Serial thief who targeted lockers gets locked up

A THIEF who plundered lockers at Wyndley Leisure Centre has been jailed and handed a four-year gym ban.

Lee Lynch, aged 48, was given a 56-week sentence at Birmingham Crown Court after he admitted breaking into gym lockers to steal wallets, cash and mobile phones.

West Midlands Police described him as "the scourge of gym-goers" and said he was believed to have stolen from up to a hundred lockers at a number of West Midlands gymnasiums and leisure clubs.

Some of the thefts he confessed to included taking loose change from trouser pockets and stealing from school children's bags while they were in a PE lesson.

Lynch, from Chilvers Grove, Kingshurst, raided the changing rooms at Wyndley Leisure Centre last July and was given a 32-week suspended prison sentence by magistrates.

A more recent spate of offending breached the terms of the suspension and brought him back before the court.

The 32-week sentence will form part of his current jail term.

At the crown court hearing on January 27 he was also given a four-year Criminal Anti-Social Behaviour Order, banning him from any sports centre, swimming baths, gymnasium or hotel leisure complex in the West Midlands.

The order, which is active until January 2016, also restricts his access to the grounds and buildings of any school, university or college campus in the region without the prior approval of a police representative.

Investigating officer PC Paul Dempsey from Solihull Police said: "This order, which runs until 26 January 2016, is essential to curb Lynch's offending pattern.

"He has been the scourge of gym-goers and has been convicted of 143 offences in and around the West Midlands area, many of these have been thefts from leisure centre lockers."

He added: "The courts have given Lynch ample opportunity to change his ways by imposing suspended sentences and offering support services, but he has continued to offend.

"This order now bans him from his hunting grounds in the West Midlands and, upon his prison release, if he ignores the conditions he can expect to be hauled back into custody."