Burglar jailed after targeting two Hartlepool shops in one night

David Hey was locked up for three years and eight months for burgling houses last year, and was given another 16 months this week for breaking into two McColl's stores in Hartlepool.

Hey donned a balaclava as he entered the stores in the early hours, but his face was caught on CCTV in the street, Teesside Crown Court heard.

"At about 1.50am two men were seen outside the McColl's store in Murray Street in Hartlepool", said Emma Atkinson prosecuting.

"One was attempting to force the shutters, going to and from a car parked nearby.

"Cigarettes, alcohol, and other household items which had a value of £3.116 were taken.

"CCTV images show one of the men using a bed sheet as a bag to carry the stolen goods."

Two months later Hey and an accomplice tried to break into the same store, and successfully broke into another McColl's in Clavering Road, Hartlepool.

"Both of these offences took place within a few hours of each other," said Ms Atkinson.

"They were similar in that one man is seen interfering with the shutters on the store in Murray Street,

"It appears he may have been panicked by a passing ambulance and its siren.

"Entry was gained to the second store.

"A member of staff arrived just before 6am to find the shutters damaged, and cigarettes and other items of stock strewn around the floor."

Hey, 31, of no fixed abode, admitted burglary on July 18, and September 15, and he admitted attempted burglary on September 15.

Stephen Constantine, defending, said in mitigation: "Mr Hey was given three years and eight months for burglaries last December, after these offences.

"It's a matter of what he would have got if everything had been dealt with at the same time.

"He does have a poor record, but managed to keep out of prison, if not out of trouble, for several years.

"The trigger for this offending was his girlfriend suffering a miscarriage after which, he tells me, his 'head went'."

Judge Stephen Ashurst jailed Hey for 16 months to start at the end of his current sentence.

The judge told him: "The court has sympathy with any defendant whose partner suffers a miscarriage, but I fail to see how that causes you to go out burgling shops.

"The correct approach to this sentence is to consider what you would have got had everything been dealt with at once.

"You are now, in effect, serving five years."