A THIEF who stole £30,000 worth of glasses and sunglasses from a Halstead opticians has been jailed for more than two years.

Ryan Boreham, 26, was sentenced to two years and four months in prison after admitting to stealing 170 pairs of glasses and sunglasses from Wardale Williams Opticians in Halstead Hight Street.

The targeted raids took place on two separate occasions last year on June 28 until June 29 and again during the early hours of July 14.

During the first break-in two men were spotted on CCTV, with one waiting outside while the other, Ryan Boreham, entered the shop and took more than 120 pairs of shades.

Following the second incident the shop’s owners caught three men on CCTV and quickly contacted the police.

Just six hours after the second theft police officers had arrested Ryan on suspicion of handling stolen goods, after he was found with a bag of sunglasses with the tags still and spotted wearing the snatched items while brazenly walking past the store he had took them from.

The other two men weren’t arrested.

A search on an address in Elizabeth Way, Halstead, at which Boreham was staying, uncovered more stolen items and police were able to match his fingerprints and DNA with the evidence found at the crime scene.

He was then arrested on suspicion of burglary and later charged with two counts of burglary.

Ryan admitted the offence when he appeared at Chelmsford Magistrates’ Court on April 30 and was sentenced to 28 months in prison for each offence, to run concurrently, at Chelmsford Crown Court yesterday, Thursday May 30.

Investigating officer PC Harry Gould said: “Ryan Boreham stole thousands of pounds worth of items, causing the business a significant loss.

“Not only that, but he brazenly flaunted the stolen items by wearing a pair of sunglasses he’d taken while walking past the shop just hours after one of the burglaries.

“Due to the evidence against him, he had no choice but to plead guilty and I hope he uses his sentence to reflect on his actions.”