Men jailed for over 12 years in connection with burglaries

Two men from Ipswich have been jailed for burglaries at business premises in Stowmarket and Stradbroke, the latter of which involved a woman being run over by a car.

Darrell Lambert, aged 39, and Jake Laurie, aged 33, appeared at Ipswich Crown Court on Monday, October 5, where they were both jailed.

Lambert was handed a total sentence of nine years and nine months, comprised of six years and nine months’ imprisonment, with a further three years on extended licence. Laurie was jailed for a total of three years (including 12 months for activating a suspended sentence).

Lambert, (pictured above) of Lloyds Avenue, had previously pleaded guilty to the following six offences: causing grievous bodily harm with intent; attempting to cause grievous bodily harm with intent; dangerous driving; two counts of burglary other than a dwelling and making off without payment.

And Laurie, (pictured above) of Hawthorn Drive, had previously pleaded guilty to two counts of burglary other than a dwelling.

The incidents all occurred in the early hours of Thursday, July 30, 2026, with the first taking place between 12.50am and 12.55am at the BP filling station in Rougham Road, Bury St Edmunds.

A black Nissan Qashqai was filled with £108 of fuel and then drove off without paying.

Police were notified of this incident around 30 minutes later and searches on the number plate of this vehicle brought back a match for a BMW, so the car was being driven using cloned number plates. This number plate had been taped on over another number and was hanging off.

At around 1.42am police were then called to reports of a burglary at the BP Tothill garage, Stowmarket (approximately 12 miles from the filling station in Bury St Edmunds).

Entry to the shop was forced using a brick to smash a window and three males wearing balaclavas entered the building with a wheelie bin and proceeded to fill it with cigarettes, vapes and alcohol.

Lambert was seen to enter the shop first, with Laurie second and an unidentified third male last. In the process of stealing the items they caused an extensive amount of damage, causing losses to the business in total of around £13,000.

As they made their escape the car now had no rear number plate, so both false plates had now fallen off.

At 2.26am police received a report of a speeding vehicle driving through a red light on the A14 at Trimley St Mary.

This was described by the witness as a Nissan Qashqai with no rear number plate and so is highly suspected to have been the same vehicle. This is approximately 26 miles from the Tot Hill garage.

At 3.11am police received a further call reporting a burglary at a shop in Church Street, Stradbroke. This is approximately 31 miles from Trimley.

CCTV images showed a Nissan Qashqai with no rear number plate outside the premises.

A brick was used to smash glass at the front of the building and the suspects – entering the building in the same order as the previous burglary with Lambert leading the way – began removing cigarettes, vapes and bottles of vodka and putting them in the Nissan Qashqai.

A man and a woman then disturbed the offenders and tried to prevent them from leaving with the stolen items.

The vehicle – with Lambert identified as the driver – was then reversed into the woman, knocking her to the ground and driving over her twice.

The man attempted to grab hold of Lambert from the passenger seat of the car but Lambert continues to drive with the victim holding onto the car. He managed to free himself and then saw Laurie running towards the car.

Lambert reversed to pick Laurie up and then drove directly towards the male victim who was forced to run out of the way, before the car then made off at speed.

Ambulance crews attended and the woman was taken to hospital for treatment, having sustained a number of injuries, including internal and external bruising and numerous cuts.

Police had begun immediate enquiries into these incidents and following a sighting of the Qashqai in Stoke Ash at around 3.43am, officers then received a report of a car matching the description of the suspect vehicle seen driving in the wrong direction along the one-way system near Ipswich waterfront at around 4.30am, where it was reported to have narrowly avoided colliding with another car.

Police units began searching the area and at just after 5am, Laurie was located in Clapgate Lane and arrested on suspicion of burglary.

Enquiries to locate Lambert continued throughout the day and he was arrested at 8.30pm that evening at a house in the Racecourse area of Ipswich.

Both men were taken to Martlesham Police Investigation Centre for questioning and were charged the following day (July 31).

The court heard that at the time of the offences, Lambert was out of prison on licence having been released just days earlier.

He was sentenced to a total of 34 months’ imprisonment on May 1, 2025, for assault offences and driving whilst disqualified.

Detective Constable Hannah Baggott, of East CID in Lowestoft, said: “Darrell Lambert and Jake Laurie intentionally set out that night to commit crimes that would evidently go on to cause a significant amount of physical, psychological and economical harm to multiple victims.

“Lambert’s offending in particular, went beyond theft and burglary and he purposely decided to use the car as a weapon in an attempt to get away from the scene by knocking an innocent woman to the ground, who was simply trying to protect her home and her family.

“Lambert reversed the car over her, pulled the car forward and reversed back over her a second time before driving away at speed, dragging the second victim along the ground all whilst other family members were helplessly watching.

“It is incredibly fortunate that they did not sustain more serious injuries and demonstrates Lambert’s utter recklessness and disregard for anybody else’s safety in his pursuit of committing crime. The victims endured a truly harrowing experience that night and the psychological and physical impact will undoubtably remain with them for a long time.

“Lambert is a prolific criminal who had only been out of prison for a matter of days and his significant sentence totalling almost 10 years reflects the severity of his offending.”