Two Chilean ‘burglary tourists’ who targeted businessman are jailed

Two Chilean women who flew to Britain as ‘burglary tourists’ to target a businessman and his wife for her designer handbags and jewellery have been jailed.

In the latest case of criminals jetting in from the South American country to raid luxury properties, the pair broke into Bernadette Pinkerton’s £3million lakeside home in Cheshire after being picked up by a male accomplice, a court heard.

Beautician Francisca Santana – who claimed she originally came to Britain to watch the King’s Coronation – and mother-of-three Rosa Dotes-Perez snatched up to £15,000 worth of items, including precious gifts given to the 62-year-old.

They also damaged CCTV cameras before fleeing towards Liverpool John Lennon airport where it is believed they were due to catch a flight back to South America with their haul.

But they were arrested after passing police officers were alerted to their rental car displaying false numberplates.

Officers searched the vehicle and found designer handbags, jewellery and £400 in cash as well as a crowbar and other tools.

Both women later cited mental health issues as mitigation for their crime.

Dotes-Perez, 33, was jailed for 20 months while Santana – a 19-year-old mother-of-one – was locked up in a young offenders institution for 16 months after both admitted burglary at Chester Crown Court.

Construction worker Jean Paul Pizarro-Carrasco, 32 and also Chilean, was jailed for 20 months after he pleaded guilty to burglary.

All three will be sent back to South America following their release from jail.

It comes after police revealed that a staggering 300 Chilean ‘burglary tourists’ had been arrested in just three years, with targets including celebrity chef Marcus Wareing and former Manchester United goalkeeper Tomasz Kuszczak.

The latest raid – in the affluent village of Lymm – occurred on June 1 while Mrs Pinkerton was on holiday with husband Steve, also 62, who together run a financial services company.

In a statement delivered in court, the office manager said: ‘My husband and I have worked hard to afford a house, a car and all the nice things such as designer handbags.

‘Some of these handbags were gifts bought by friends and family who have also worked hard to purchase them.

‘I feel angry that they were able to come into our house and search it while we were not even there.’

Mrs Pinkerton said since the burglary the couple had been ‘made to feel unsafe in our own home’.

‘I no longer like to be left alone inside the house when my husband is out,’ she added.

She said the raid ‘ruined’ their holiday, leaving them feeling ‘extremely stressed and full of worry’.

‘I am now very nervous and apprehensive,’ she added.

‘I feel vulnerable, which is something I should not feel in my own home.

‘No person has the right to do this.’

The two women are thought to have been scouring likely targets after arriving in the UK a few weeks earlier.

Carrasco had flown into Liverpool the day before and picked up the rental car before fitting it with a false plate and collecting them, using a piece of wood to break into the house.

After being pulled over, both women leapt out of the car and tried to run off but were seized, with cash, valuables and personal items belonging to Mrs Pinkerton found in the car.

Police visited the Pinkertons’ property and found damage to the home CCTV system worth up to £2,000, prosecutor Joshua Sanderson-Kirk said.

‘Total losses were estimated to range between £10,000 and £15,000,’ he added.

Santana – who was found to be carrying £600 which she claimed was her holiday money – later said she had come to Britain on a holiday visa two months earlier to watch the Coronation.

She has one previous conviction for a burglary when she was 14.

Dotes-Peres – who the court heard has 19 previous convictions for theft in Chile – gave no comment in her interview.

Carrasco’s criminal history in Chile was not ascertained.

Mitigating for Santana, Simran Garcha (CRCT) said she was ‘ashamed and contrite’.

For Dotes-Perez, Thomas McLoughlin said she was ‘ashamed of what she has done’ and ‘regrets’ her involvement.

Mitigating for Carrasco, Oliver Saddington said he wanted to return to Chile and ‘start again after his sentence’.

Sentencing them, Judge Simon Berkson told the gang: ‘It mattered not to you what the items of sentimental value meant to the owners or that they had been obtained by hard work.

‘It matters not to you that home invasion leaves an inevitable psychological effect on those who live through it, even when they are not present at the address.

‘It affects their psyche and as two of you have your own mental health problems, you can imagine the level of impact your crime has had on the victims.’