Attempted Bournemouth museum lead thief is jailed

Caleb Ollie Johnson was on the roof of the Russell-Cotes Art Gallery and Museum in the earlier hours of Thursday, August 13.

Officers were called to reports of a person on the building on the East Cliff.

When they arrived they discovered that a large amount of lead had been stripped from the roof.

Johnson was arrested nearby and later charged.

Caleb Ollie Johnson, aged 21 and of Bindon Close in Poole

The 21-year-old was sentenced to 24 months in prison at Bournemouth Crown Court on Thursday, September 24, after pleading guilty to seven counts of theft, attempted theft and fraud by false representation. He was also sentenced for breach of a suspended prison sentence.

The first theft offence occurred on Wednesday 12 February 2020 when Johnson, of Bindon Close in Poole, entered HM Samuel at the Dolphin Centre in Poole and stole a necklace worth £499.

Four theft offences and one fraud by false representation offence occurred between Monday, April 13, and Friday, April 17, and related to Johnson transferring or attempting to transfer quantities of cash from the bank account of a vulnerable victim he knew to his own on four occasions. The total transferred was £800.

Other offences involved the theft of a £2,000 electric pedal cycle from outside an address in Poole on the morning of Tuesday, June 16, and theft of a bicycle from Ashley Road in Poole on Saturday, July 11.

Detective Constable Christian Bryant, of Dorset Police’s Priority Crime Team, said: “Caleb Johnson was responsible for committing a series of offences over a six-month period. I hope the sentence handed out by the court will send out a strong message that we will investigate these crimes and do all we can to bring offenders to justice.”