Burglar ordered to repay stolen £4,000

Nov 9 2007 by Neil Mckay, The Journal

A FORMER firefighter who took part in a nightclub burglary which netted £37,000 has agreed to pay back his share of the loot.

Warren Hodgson, 35, of Linden Mews, Langley Park, Durham, received £4,000 for his part in the robbery at DH1 in North Road, Durham.

Hodgson and David Simpson, described as the mastermind behind the robbery, groomed club manager Max Cesar Rauber to take part in a plot to fake a robbery at the premises.

Scared of Simpson, who previously extorted money from Rauber, he revealed his personal alarm code and a detailed lay-out of the North Road club.

He was supposedly overpowered at gunpoint by ‘robbers’ and forced to hand over the keys to his BMW car and to the club, on his arrival home, in Trimdon Grange, County Durham, from work early on October 31, 2005.

The club was entered at 4.58am on October 31, using Rauber’s code. Closed circuit TV footage showed a figure leaving the premises, pushing a trolley load of money to a car, at 5.35am.

Rauber, claiming to have broken free of his shackles, alerted a neighbour at 7.30am, and police were informed. He claimed he had been tied up at gunpoint by a man who stole his car keys and the keys to the nightclub.

Inquiries revealed £37,691 was taken from the club. Police inquiries revealed that £4,000 from the robbery had passed through Hodgson’s girlfriend’s bank account, but the rest of the stolen money remains outstanding.

In March this year Hodgson, a former firefighter who left the service with a back injury, was jailed for nine months for his part in the burglary, and he is now out on licence.

Yesterday he agreed to pay £4,293, the amount by which he benefited in addition to what its value is now.

The amount included £1,320 recovered from his house, £1100 of which had been put aside for a deposit for new flooring at his house.

The Crown is also seeking to recover a “substantially higher” amount from Simpson, 25, of Front Street, Framwellgate Moor, Durham, who is serving a seven year sentence at Acklington prison in Northumberland for conspiracy to burgle, arson, drugs offences and handling a stolen vehicle.

He appeared in the dock at Durham Crown Court next to Hodgson, and hand-cuffed to a warder, but had his case adjourned until January 10 after telling the court he had dispensed with the services of his barrister and was seeking new legal representation.