Care home burglar jailed for nearly 3 years

A burglar who targeted two care homes and a building site has been jailed after being repeatedly captured on CCTV.

Pavel Bolea, of Pearcy Close in Harrold Hill, Romford, has now been sentenced to 2 years and 8 months for burglary, theft, and assault by beating.

At around 9.15am on 13 June 2026, Bolea attended the Cavell Park Care Home on Sittingbourne Road, Maidstone. He parked his black Seat Leon at the top of the road before approaching the building and trying several doors to ground-floor residential rooms.

He eventually found one which had been left unlocked and entered the building.
Bolea was spotted by staff, who asked him to leave.

Officers later attended and reviewed available CCTV, which clearly showed the sequence of events.

Further offending

Two days later, Bolea was again caught on camera stealing buildering materials worth approximately £4,000 from a site in Sydenham, London, having arrived in the same hatchback.

Early in the morning of 6 August, Bolea broke into the Rowallen Care Home in Romford, Essex. He was challenged by a carer, who tried to detain him while police arrived. He punched and kicked her a number of times before a second member of staff stepped in to assist. Bolea attempted to stab the second victim with a pen.

Arrested

Officers arrested him and an investigation saw them link Bolea to the first incident from fingerprints he left on the door handle at the scene. Bolea was later charged and remanded in connection to all three incidents.

The 24 year old Romanian national pleaded guilty and was sentenced at Maidstone Crown Court on Thursday 12 November.

Investigating officer, Detective Constable Celia King, said:

‘We were successful in securing a custodial sentence for Bolea after officers across 3 forces acted quickly to retrieve valuable evidence, including CCTV and Automatic Number Plate Recognition data. ‘Bolea pleaded guilty at the earliest opportunity but demonstrated little remorse for the impact he had on his victims, including the two workers he assaulted while they took brave measures to protect the vulnerable pensioners they were responsible for.’