A WYTHENSHAWE teenager has been sentenced to eight years in jail after admitting to multiple offences in and around Trafford.

Nathan Wellings, 18, of Brundage Road, was jailed yesterday at Manchester Crown Court after pleading guilty to three counts of handling stolen goods, three robberies, two burglaries and two thefts.

Wellings committed the offences between March 2019 and October 2020.

One offence in July 2019 saw Wellings and two associates rob a Rolex from a man in his 60s after following him home from a supermarket in Hale.

Police caught him following a robbery in Altrincham in October 2020 when he and an associate went into the back garden of a property wearing balaclavas, grabbed a female occupier, then went inside the property and stole a watch worth about £8000.

They fled in a BMW, but after taking reports from victims and witnesses, officers found and arrested Wellings.

The BMW was linked to a theft in Bramhall two days earlier, and detectives later discovered other stolen items at Wellings’s home address which he was also convicted of taking.

Wellings gave 'no comment' interviews, but admitted to the ten offences in the face of overwhelming CCTV and forensic evidence, as well as the accounts from witnesses and victims.

The conviction is the third as part of Operation Elista – GMP Trafford’s move to tackle the robbery of high-value watches in the area.

Another three arrests have been made and incidents have decreased, with police determined to maintain the downward trend.

GMP Trafford’s Detective Inspector Matt Gregory said: "Wellings acted with complete impunity and remorselessly targeted innocent people for his own criminality and greed.

"The spree of offending that he embarked on has been part of an issue that has been – and continues to be – of great concern to local residents and I hope that today's verdict demonstrates our commitment to bring such culprits to justice.

"Some of the ordeals that the victims went through during the incidents are appalling and have understandably had a lasting psychological impact on them, but I hope that they can begin to properly move on from their experiences now that Wellings is behind bars."