Entertainment
Men plead guilty in ‘£750k plot involving Dec Donnelly’s Range Rover’ as I’m A Celebrity star targeted as family slept
Dec and Ali’s home was targeted earlier this year (Picture: Max Mumby/Indigo/Getty Images)
Four men have pleaded guilty to plotting to steal £750,000 worth of luxury vehicles, including Declan Donnelly’s Range Rover.
Police were called to the I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out Of Here! star’s home on April 6 at 1am, however the alleged thieves had already fled empty-handed.
It was reported at the time would-be thieves couldn’t prize open the iron gates outside the mansion and drove away in a car just moments before police arrived.
It’s said Donnelly, his wife Ali Astall, 43, and their young daughter Isla were asleep at the time of the attempted break-in and were unaware until they were later told by police.
The 45-year-old presenter’s black Range Rover was among nearly a million pounds’-worth of high-value vehicles targeted by the group.
Appearing in court on Wednedsay, Ellis Glynne, 29, Connor Murray, 21, Perry Ogle, 23, and Vinothkumar Ratnam, 37, all pleaded guilty to conspiracy to steal the cars between January 1 and July 9 this year.
In total 12 men have been charged with various offences relating to the planned burglaries.
Dec’s friend Ant McPartlin previously lived on the same street (Picture: PA)
Glynne and Ratnam, both from Surrey, and Murray and Ogle, both from Hounslow, west London, appeared in the dock at Kingston Crown Court alongside four others.
Alfie Chandler, 18, from Hounslow, who is also charged with conspiracy to steal the vehicles, pleaded not guilty to the charge, while Tommy Hutchinson, 18, from Feltham, who is also charged with conspiracy to steal the vehicles, did not enter a plea.
Ryan Crafts, from Wokingham, Berkshire, and Charlie Kavanagh, from Ashford, Surrey, entered not guilty pleas at a hearing in August.
Glynne, Murray and a third man, Robert Green, 41, from Addlestone, Surrey, face a separate count of conspiracy to burgle over the attempted theft of an ATM from a Brentford convenience store between January 25 and February 7 last year.
All three denied the charges.
Glynne, Murray and Ogle also pleaded guilty to a second count of conspiracy to burgle, which they were charged with alongside Chandler and another man, Jack Foley, 24, from Surrey.
Both Chandler and Foley have denied the charge.
The five men are alleged to have plotted to steal 11 electric bikes from Velospeed, in Thatcham, Berkshire, between June 14 and June 17 this year.
More: Declan Donnelly
Tyler Smallworth, 20, from Hounslow, was further charged with theft of a van but previously denied the charge. Edward Atkins, 34, also from Feltham, is due to be arraigned at a later date.
Judge Sarah Plaschkes QC set a trial date of January 4 next year.
She remanded Glynne and Murray in custody while the other defendants were released on bail ahead of a further hearing on October 15.
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