New Year’s Eve burglars – 2014’s first arrests – are jailed.

West Midlands Police’s first two prisoners of 2014 have both been handed jail terms for ransacking the home of a couple out at a New Year party.

Kieron Ballard and Felix Delaney struck at the house in Kenilworth Road, Balsall Common, at around 11.30pm on 31st December before loading a hoard of electrical items, jewellery, designer watches, £400 cash and bottles of alcohol into a waiting car.

Minutes later they tried prising open a garage door in Balsall Street East but fled when an alert neighbour disturbed them and called police.

Ballard (24) and 43-year-old Delaney fled into fields but were forced to back track and take cover in a shed after being picked up by the police helicopter.

Their attempts to lie low were quickly scuppered though as officers, directed from above by crew using thermal imaging cameras, closed in and arrested the pair who were found with a burglars toolkit comprising gloves, balaclavas, crowbars, tools and torches.

Both admitted burglary and going equipped to burgle and at Birmingham Crown Court on Friday (9th May) Ballard, from Marlborough Road in Nuneaton, and Delaney, of no fixed address, were sentenced to two years in prison.

Investigating officer Detective Constable Ian Brown from Force CID in Coventry, said: “They were processed through custody shortly after midnight and, as a result, got the unenviable award of being our first detainees of 2014!

“Both tried running across nearby fields but, given the close proximity to Birmingham Airport, the police helicopter was airborne in minutes and soon had them in its sights. They clearly weren’t familiar with the high-tech equipment on board, including the thermal imaging cameras that meant they were lit up like beacons whilst hiding in the shed.

“It was a fantastic start to the New Year: two burglars were taken off the streets and stolen property returned to its owners.”

Read the full story here: http://www.west-midlands.police.uk/latest-news/news.aspx?id=870