Three men who stole the ashes of twin babies who died at birth from a grieving family during a string of burglaries across London were convicted on Tuesday (April 17).

Marcin Lipiec, 37, Daniel Majewski, 26, and Piotr Pawlark, 32, all of Wills Crescent, Whitton, pocketed hundreds of items of property during a string of burglaries last year.

All three pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit burglary at Kingston Crown Court on Tuesday and will be sentenced at the same court on May 11.

The twin babies' ashes, which were kept in a maroon box inside a house in Castlegate, Richmond, were stolen during a burglary on December 11.

A police spokesman said: “Along with items of jewellery, a maroon box was taken which contained the ashes of twins who had died at birth. The theft of the ashes left the family heartbroken.”

The following day at 7.38pm, police were called about a burglary in Buxton Road, after a family couldn't get into their home because the front door had been barricaded from the inside.

Minutes before the burglary, which reportedly led to a safe, bank cards, passports and a laptop being stolen, police were called about a gold VW Passat which the caller thought was suspicious.

Officers looked into the reported suspicious car, which was shown to be registered to Piotr Pawlark and was found parked in the driveway when officered attended the address.

Daniel Majewski (left), Marcin Lipiec and Piotr Pawlark were convicted on Tuesday

A loud banging, which sounded like metal on metal, was then heard by officers from inside the house and police later found a large damaged safe in the living room.

According to police, the safe had sustained “lots of damage” from when the suspects had attempted to open it using tools. The contents were later confirmed to belong to the Buxton Road victims.

Lipiec, Majewski and Pawlark, who are all Polish nationals, along with a 25-year-old woman, were arrested on suspicion of burglary. The men were later charged with burglary on December 14.

A search of the Wills Crescent address uncovered more than 400 items of stolen property, along with tools “associated with going equipped to commit burglary” such as crowbars, gloves and hammers.

This box containing the ashes of the victim's twin children was stolen from Richmond

Detectives from Richmond and Kingston CID sifted through hundreds of items of recovered property and found the box containing the children's ashes stolen from Castlegate.

Enquiries linked the three men to seven other burglaries and they were further charged with conspiracy to commit burglary offences on February 26 this year.

The burglaries took place over a two-week period in Covington Way, Norbury, Castlegate, Richmond, Linkfield Road, Isleworth, Springfield Road, St Johns Wood.

Other roads affected were Riverdale Gardens, Twickenham, Meadow Close, Wimbledon and Rideway Road North, Hounslow between November 29 and December 12.

'Heartbreak for a number of families'

PC Jamie Oprey from Richmond and Kingston CID, said: “Lipiec, Majewski and Pawlark are prolific burglars who have caused misery and heartbreak for a number of families across London.

"I'm pleased they have today been brought to justice for their crimes. Thanks to some great detective work, we were able to link these three defendants to eight burglaries in London.

"I'm delighted that we were able to return hundreds of items of stolen property to their owners, including the children's ashes.

"I hope this highlights how important it is for members of the public to call the police when they see something suspicious, just like the caller did when they acted on their instincts about the VW Passat."

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