Tamworth break-ins: Four children charged with Hercules Street break-and-enter in West Tamworth

The four, aged 12, 14 and 16, are facing charges of aggravated break-and-enter, accused of targeting an 86-year-old woman’s house in Hercules Street on Sunday.

The elderly woman returned home to find the house had been ransacked between 1.30 and 4.30pm.

The children left empty-handed but following investigations, police homed in on the accused and arrested them on Monday.

All four were granted conditional bail after appearing in Tamworth Children’s Court.

“This was an investigation by general duties and the Target Action Group (TAG) as part of Operation Southbreak,” Detective Acting Inspector Jason Darcy told the Leader.

“As part of that operation, police are actively out on the streets, especially in the evenings in uniform and plain clothes, targeting break-and-enters and property offences in the South and West Tamworth.”

Last week, a 16-year-old was charged in connection to a break-in East Tamworth while the female resident was home.

“Police are out there, we are actively making arrests and we are building our case against the accused,” Detective Darcy said.

“We need people to report suspicious activity, report it straight away to police, instead of putting it on Facebook, ring police and give a description.

“We are investigating any possible links between reported break-and-enters and that information helps to build intel so that we can solve these cases and put offenders before the courts.”