Jailed: 'Most wanted' pair committed 68 burglaries targeting elderly and vulnerable

Dobroslav Gabor and Marek Balog committed 68 "devastating" burglaries across Sandwell, Walsall, and Birmingham in just four months from July 23 to November 7, 2020.

They have now pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit the burglaries, as well as an aggravated burglary on a vulnerable 81-year-old man in West Bromwich.

Despite having been arrested for previous burglaries and released on bail, the pair walked into the pensioner's house, after he had left his front door open as he was awaiting a visit from his carers.

The man questioned them for being in his home and they hit him, knocking him to the ground and threatening him with a knife.

Gabor and Balog stole money from their victim's pockets and prized his wedding ring from his finger - a ring he had worn for nearly 60 years.

The elderly man managed to press his emergency alarm for help, which seemed to spook the men, who locked him in a room and unplugged his phone line.

The man was taken to hospital for his injuries and his health deteriorated. He later passed away.

He was just one of the pair's victims. Gabor, of Windermere Road in Handsworth, and Balog, of no fixed address, would brazenly walk into people’s homes and were known to climb onto roofs to get in via open windows.

They also posed as workmen and offered services such as cleaning driveways to gain access.

Once inside, they stole money and bank cards, as well as electrical items and sentimental jewellery.

As their crime spree intensified, victims and their neighbours worked together to gather information and were able to get hold of Balog's ID card which was sent to detectives.

Gabor was identified as being the second half of the crime duo, as fingerprints left at the scene of a burglary on Midland Close were found on the police database following a knife offence earlier that year.

With two named suspects, officers were able to widen their intelligence and property searches to try and trace them.

Gabor was arrested in October after a woman saw him using her bank card in a shop in Handsworth, only a day after it was stolen in a burglary at her home.

The 26-year-old was charged with burglary and was later released by Birmingham Magistrates Court.

However, the crime duo continued to commit burglaries across the region including the aggravated burglary on the 81-year-old man in West Bromwich.

They also stole money from the pocket of a man asleep in his Lozells home and raided the house of a deaf man, who was unable to hear them smashing their way into his house. Gabor and Balog also targeted a Birmingham temple twice.

Following a painstaking investigation to track them down, West Midlands launched a public manhunt and released their images on social media.

Balog was quickly arrested whilst committing a burglary in Cheshire and Gabor was arrested just days later at his property in Windermere Road, Birmingham, where he was found hiding under a fence panel.

At Birmingham Crown Court on May 5, 2022, Gabor, pleaded guilty to aggravated burglary and conspiracy to commit 67 burglaries. He was sentenced to 16 years in prison.

Yesterday Balog pleaded guilty to the same offences and was jailed for 14 years and 10 months.

DC Suzie Doidge, who led the investigation, said: "Gabor and Balog targeted people in their homes at a time when the country was under huge lockdown restrictions, meaning their homes were their safe haven. But these men broke in and took that from them.

"They stole their prized possessions, sentimental items and made people really fearful to sleep in their own beds.

"This was such a complex job, with so many offences and different strands, I am so pleased to finally see these two men being jailed for their crimes.

"When your home is broken into, it leaves such a devastating lasting effect on people. I want to thank all of our victims and the wider public for their co-operation and I hope that this outcome provides some comfort to the families I have worked so closely with over the last few years.”

The son of the 81-year-old man, who was a victim in one of their burglaries, said: "I am glad some proper justice has been had. It is a shame that my dad isn't around to hear this as he would have been really happy with this."