Three men from Salford has been jailed after home raids left young children hiding in wardrobes and bathrooms as their houses were burgled.
Five men were sentenced at Manchester Crown Court following a large-scale conspiracy across Salford, Bury and Trafford between January 2024 and May 2025.
The masked gang targeted affluent homes during daylight hours, forcing entry through rear doors and windows to steal designer handbags and family gold. In total, property worth more than £500,000 was taken.
During the raids, terrified children were caught in the middle of the break-ins. In one incident, a child hid inside a wardrobe while offenders searched the room. In another, a child took refuge in a bathroom as suspects tried to force entry.
Three Salford men were among those sentenced. Wayne Jones, 23, of Dunedin Drive, received eight years for five counts of burglary. Liam Dodds, 34, of Cheadle Avenue, was jailed for six years and four months for eight counts after acting as a driver. Rohan Brown, 22, of Riverside Way, received five years and four months for seven counts.
Co-defendants Luca Staines, 20, of HMP Forest Bank, and David Owen, 24, of no fixed abode, were each jailed for five years and four months. Staines was sentenced in relation 15 counts and Owen nine counts.
Phone evidence linked the group to the crimes. Officers found Jones received £14,000 after one raid where £70,000 of family gold was taken. Images recovered by police showed Owen and Jones posing with large stacks of cash.
PC Isabella Parsons, of the Salford Neighbourhood Crime Team, said: “This was a highly organised and persistent burglary network that caused significant distress to dozens of families across Greater Manchester.
“The offenders deliberately targeted homes for financial gain and showed little regard for the impact their crimes would have on victims, including children and vulnerable residents who were present during some of the burglaries.”
Police said extensive CCTV, forensic work and phone downloads secured the convictions under Operation Castle, a Greater Manchester Police initiative to tackle house break-ins.
GMP says force-wide residential burglaries have fallen from 1,500 a month five years ago to around 650 by June 2026.
