Thief with 120 offences on his record stole two coffee machines from Tesco warehouse in Hartlepool

Gary Young, 47, of the town’s Farrow Close, pleaded guilty to burglary at Teesside Crown Court after breaking into the warehouse in Belle Vue Way.

Rachel Stapleton, prosecuting, said the incident happened at around 6.40pm on January 19 this year and one of the store managers was alerted to an alarm in the warehouse area of the premises.

She said he found a fire door had been damaged and was ajar.

Ms Stapleton said CCTV footage showed the defendant going into the premises and then coming out with the two coffee machines.

The solicitor read out a witness impact statement from Tesco which said although the company is large, thefts do have an impact on the business and on the staff and added: “There was a female member of staff, who was pregnant, working alone in that area at the time.”

Ms Stapleton said Young already had 40 convictions for 120 offences and 58 of those were theft related.

A spokesman for the probation service said Young had said he had been in the area earlier that day walking his dog and then had returned to see if there was any work available.

He said: “It would appear this offence was carried out for financial gain, which appears to be a pattern of Mr Young’s offending.”

The probation officer said Young had had a number of jobs since leaving school, including a roofer and a football coach.

He said he is currently unemployed and is on a methadone programme to help with his drug abuse.

He said Young poses a high risk of re-offending and because he has targeted vulnerable victims in the past he also poses a high risk of harm to the public.

Defending, Stuart Haywood, said he believes his client would benefit from working with the probation service and should be given credit for his early guilty plea.

Young was given an 18-month community order with rehabilitation days and 100 hours of unpaid work. He was also ordered to pay compensation of £150, £85 costs and a £90 surcharge.