Thief Who Targeted A Children’s Hospital During National Lockdown Is Sent To Prison For Four And A Half Years

A morally corrupt thief from Birmingham who broke into hospitals and care homes has been sent to prison for four and a half years. 

While the nation clapped for our NHS Heroes, Wayne Bradley, who has been described by police as a ‘prolific thief’ made it his mission to steal from the very people who were trying to save as many lives as possible during the national lockdown. 

Bradley struck during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, targeting hospitals across Birmingham. The 30-year-old from Kitts Gardens, Bartley Green, was found to have broken into four different hospitals and care homes in April this year. 

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Bradley conned and tailgated hardworking NHS staff to get access to unauthorised areas before stealing from the men and women who were risking their own lives in order to save the lives of others.

Back in September 2018, the career criminal was given a Criminal Behaviour Order by Birmingham Crown Court having been found guilty carrying out a string of similar thefts which targetted NHS employees. 

Drop-out Bradley was banned from attended any hospitals unless it was for an emergency or unless it was for pre-arranged treatment. The ban was put in place until 2021. But it did not deter Bradley from targetting the men and women who were working 17-hour shifts trying to save lives. 

On Wednesday 15th April, Bradley stooped to new lows after he targetted staff who were working in the Birmingham Children’s Hospital by stealing their private mobile phones. One of the victims challenged him, but the coward ran off.

Local officers began investigating with Birmingham’s Retail Bid patrol officers and managed to identify Bradley as the suspect. He was arrested, and they started trawling CCTV of similar reports and found footage of him attending Solihull Hospital a week before and stealing a staff member’s purse. 

On Saturday 11 April the thief also gained access to an elderly care complex in Bournville and stole two electronic tablets which he forcibly removed from their mounts. 

Two days later, he went to Birmingham Children’s Hospital again and wandered around the corridors, before managing to get into the heart unit to steal a laptop.

The day before he was caught on 15 April, he went to the city’s Women’s Hospital and was seen trying to gain entry to several departments, including intensive care. 

He managed to eventually steal a midwife’s personal phone from the ante-natal unit.

All of the offences Bradley was involved in meant he had breached not only national COVID regulations but also his CBO.

Yesterday (Wednesday 9 September), Bradley pleaded guilty at Birmingham Crown Court. He was sentenced to four and a half years in prison for six burglary offences, three fraud offences, six breaches of his CBO and six breaches of COVID regulations.

Sergeant Julia Slater from the city centre team said: 

“Bradley is a callous and uncaring career criminal who has gone out of his way to deliberately target the most vulnerable in society. 

“While the rest of the country was in lockdown doing all they could to stop the spread of the virus, he was going out to steal from those people most at risk, and most shocking of all, to steal from the selfless members of the NHS who were putting their own safety on the line to help save others. 

“Stealing from these groups would be heinous enough, but Bradley chose to do this at the height of the largest crisis the world has had to face in a generation, not caring who he might endanger or how upsetting it might be to his victims. 

“We are pleased to see the courts agreed with us about the seriousness of Bradley’s offending, and this sentence should keep the public safe for the foreseeable future.”