The five men, who operated from a jail in Watery Lane, Wolverhampton, targeted businesses in the Black Country and broke into Staffordshire, Shropshire and Worcestershire taking metal, copper and other goods as well as vehicles to transport them worth around £2.6 million.

In case Walsall theft, at Cashmore Metals on January 1, 2023, they showed up with a trailer that was so overloaded with copper that it overturned.

Sentencing the group at Wolverhampton Crown Court, Judge Michael Chambers KC said the conspiracy – over ten incidents – was “as exceptionally bad a case involving commercial premises as can be imagined”.