Two burglars jailed after shopping spree using stolen bank card

Darren Russell, 44, and Tyrone Grimshaw, 26, used the cards seven times in a morning at grocery stores in Hartlepool.

They were caught after a 999 call sent police to a reported 4pm burglary on November 2 in Park Road, Hartlepool.

Prosecutor Harry Hadfield told Teesside Crown Court that Russell was arrested near the scene with a bulging carrier bag holding rice pudding and bags of tobacco.

The officers found Grimshaw nearby with the keys to the Range Rover and the bank card.

Mr Hadfield said Grimshaw told them Russell had given him the keys and he was minding them for him.

The card’s owner said it had been used seven times to obtain £129 worth of goods and it had been rejected another five times in attempts to buy £57 more goods.

She said in a Victim Impact statement that she had to get a new card.

The house owner said that the burglar had struck when his daughter and grandchild were there alone, and he was worried what would have happened if there had been a confrontation.

Mr Hadfield said Russell had 66 convictions for 214 offences including 15 dwelling burglaries and he was a three-strikes burglar facing a minimum of three years jail after being jailed for three years in 2015.

Grimshaw had 13 convictions for 69 offences and he was in breach of a suspended prison sentence and a community order.

Ian Mullarkey, defending Russell said there had been a reduction in his offences of burglary since 1999.

Andrew Teat, defending Grimshaw, said the total value of the goods was low and he had been in custody serving a suspended sentence until last Friday, which would not count towards his new sentence.

The Recorder of Middlesbrough Judge Simon Bourne-Arton QC told Grimshaw: “You are a thorough nuisance to society.

“You in this year have been before the courts on many occasions and been given a number of chances and failed.”

Russell, of Grange Road, Hartlepool, was jailed for 826 days after he pleaded guilty to burglary and seven offences of fraud. Grimshaw, of the same address, was jailed for 17 months for the frauds which he admitted. He denied the burglary and the case was left on file.