A judge said his criminal record featured ‘an appalling catalogue of offences’
A prolific burglar went on a summer crime spree, including stealing a car in a burglary and leading police on a 90mph pursuit through Hull. Lewis Armstrong-Doyle was employed to clear garden waste but he returned later to one of the properties to steal a girl’s bicycle and frozen foods from a garden shed, a court heard.
Armstrong-Doyle, 27, formerly of Saxcourt, Orchard Park estate, Hull, but recently in custody on remand, admitted two burglaries on June 23 and 29, attempted burglary on July 6 and theft on July 31. He also admitted a string of motoring offences, including theft of a car, driving while disqualified and having no insurance on August 25.
Michael Masson, prosecuting, told Grimsby Crown Court that the owner of a home in Rosedale Grove, west Hull, discovered her daughter’s £800 Voodoo cycle had been stolen, along with a circular saw, valued at £280, and frozen foods, valued at more than £100, from a freezer. Having looked at CCTV footage, she recognised the burglar as one of the men who visited her home a week earlier.
Armstrong-Doyle’s stepfather alerted police when the defendant went to the man’s home and took cans of beer and clothing at 3.30am on June 29. At the Strawberry Fields supported-living premises for vulnerable adults, staff noticed Armstrong-Doyle acting suspiciously in the offices of the charity on July 6.
He had been trying to force a window. On July 25, he returned and again was spotted by a staff member as he was trying to enter a block of flats.
The theft offence happened at Home Bargains on July 31 as Armstrong-Doyle was seen by a customer filling a bag with Lynx deodorant spray, valued at £78, and leaving. On August 25, a resident of Park Avenue, Hull, returned home and left her handbag on a dining table.
But in the early hours, Armstrong-Doyle crept in and stole keys to her Nissan Micra car, along with cash and bank cards. The car was spotted on Walker Street by an alert police officer, who became suspicious about the manner of driving.
The car’s details were checked and the owner was alerted, as police set up a pursuit involving a number of police traffic cars. The Nissan was clocked at speeds of more than 90mph in 30mph limits along Beverley Road and Beresford Road.
On two occasions, the Nissan was used to attempt to ram police cars and it was driven on the wrong side of the road. A stinger device was used eventually to bring the stolen car to a halt.
Despite the car having two deflated tyres, the driver still attempted to evade police by driving off at speed, the court heard. A police dog handler helped with his eventual arrest. In a police interview, the defendant said he had panicked.
Armstrong-Doyle had already been given a two-year suspended sentence and so the burglaries put him in breach of that court order. He had convictions for 13 previous offences, including two of possessing cocaine in 2019 and possessing heroin and crack cocaine in May 2021, when he was given a two-year suspended sentence.
He had convictions for driving while disqualified, failing to provide a sample for analysis and having no insurance in February 2022 and assaulting an emergency worker in 2022. Cathy Kioko-Gilligan, mitigating, said that Armstrong-Doyle’s drug misuse was spiralling out of control and he suffered from other problems. “His life became more and more chaotic,” said Miss Kioko-Gilligan.
“Having a bed in prison every day is a comfort. He is going to have to change his life around in substantial ways. He is remorseful and disgusted in himself.”
Judge Gurdial Singh said that Armstrong-Doyle’s criminal record was “an appalling catalogue of offences.” He added: “In the background is the breach of a suspended order for burglary.
“I have read your letter but I can’t overlook your campaign of burglary, which was purely to satisfy your drug addiction.” Armstrong-Doyle was jailed for a total of four years and he was banned from driving for four years.
At an earlier hearing before Hull Crown Court in April this year for separate offences, the court was told that Armstrong-Doyle raided three houses and a garage in a “determined spree” of random “opportunist” break-ins in a quiet village during the early hours of the same night. The worrying spate of “odd” burglaries shocked and upset the baffled local residents and the unsettling mystery was “frightening the living daylights out of these people”.
But the culprit, Armstrong-Doyle, was quickly identified by a family member after a Facebook post about the break-ins. He missed “seemingly obvious items” to steal while stumbling about in the raided properties, the court heard that day.
Armstrong-Doyle, admitted four offences of burglary with intent to steal, all committed in the Holderness village of Aldbrough in the early hours of November 9 last year.
The court that day that, at about 3.23am, Armstrong-Doyle approached the front of a house in High Street, Aldbrough, and opened a garage before going to the rear of the property. He was disturbed by the occupier of the house and ran away. He had a face covering over his nose and mouth.
At 3.55am, a woman was woken by Armstrong-Doyle rustling around in the ground floor of the house, setting off a motion light. She called the police, terrified. Armstrong-Doyle left without taking anything but he knocked over a sewing box.
At 4am, he entered a house in Seaside Road but he was heard by the daughter and stepdaughter of the owner, who were sleeping downstairs. The daughter texted her mother, asking: “Who is that at the door?” Armstrong-Doyle was heard leaving by the front door as the mother went onto landing to go downstairs.
Doyle entered a house in Headlands Drive, Aldbrough, leaving footprints in a flower bed and entering through a window. Items were moved but nothing was taken.
Details about the burglaries were put on a local Facebook page and Armstrong-Doyle was identified by his stepfather, who recognised him. He was arrested the same day.
During police interview, he denied any involvement, claiming that he had been at home asleep. He was living at the time with his mother in Aldbrough, the court heard.
He later admitted the burglaries and said that he had been under the influence of drugs. Armstrong-Doyle was, that day, given a two-year suspended prison sentence and 20 days’ rehabilitation.