She said she was left ‘really shocked and stressed’ after the incident, Hull Crown Court heard
A woman was left “really shocked and stressed” after she discovered to her horror how easy and “shocking” it was for raiders to break into her home and steal the keys to her car before taking the vehicle. Burglar Daniel Beaney found himself saddled with another man’s £13,500 drug debt after a friend died and the brazen theft and sale of the stolen car would have helped to pay that off.
He claimed that a “geezer” pointed out the house as a suitable target for a money-making burglary and car theft mission and that he got involved because he was “just scared” for his safety, Hull Crown Court heard. Beaney, 34, of North Street, Bridlington, but recently in custody, admitted burglary involving stealing car keys from the house, theft of a Mercedes car and possessing a friction lock baton as an offensive weapon on August 18.
Stephen Welch, prosecuting, said that a car, valued at £16,000 was parked on the driveway outside a woman’s home in Preston, near Hull. The woman who lived there went to work at 7.30am.
She returned at 4.50pm but was rushing straight out to go to Hull for a concert. She did not notice that the car had gone but, when she returned at 11.07pm, she realised that the car had disappeared, along with the car keys.
CCTV pictures showed that two men, including Beaney, were on the scene at 3.27pm. On August 19, the car was seen parked near the M180 motorway on the south bank of the Humber. Beaney was in the driver’s seat and a woman was in the passenger seat. The baton, an offensive weapon, was found by police.
The victim later said that nothing like this had ever happened to her before and she was left “really shocked and stressed”. She saw the CCTV of someone entering her home and it made her feel sick.
She was shocked how easy it was to steal her car. It made her feel less safe in her home. Beaney made no comment to questions during police interview.
He had convictions for 62 previous offences, including burglary in January and August 2008. He was given an eight-month detention and training order on the second occasion.
He was jailed for 18 months for domestic burglary in September 2015 and he was locked up for 14 months in February this year for affray and causing criminal damage. He was also jailed for 14 weeks later in February for assault.
Beaney told the court that a friend died and left a £13,500 debt for drugs and Beaney found himself feeling that he had to sort it out. A “geezer” picked him up and showed him two houses for possibly burgling but they were “not suitable” and they went to this house instead.
The car was taken with the aim of “paying my bill” even though the debt was not his in the first place. “I was just getting pressure for it,” said Beaney.
“He kept chasing me for it. He just wanted his 13 grand back.” Someone was going to come and pick the stolen car up and sell it. “It would have paid a good bit of it,” said Beaney. “I was scared.”
Beaney was jailed for 876 days.
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