WHEN two burglars targeted an isolated house in Beoley near Redditch, the first thing they did was pull the security camera from the wall.
But it continued filming as it lay on the ground – and the owner called the police after being alerted to the break-in by his computer-linked security system.
That led to one of the raiders, Dillan Beasmore, being caught after ramming a police car to escape, Warwick Crown Court heard.
Beasmore, 18, of Circular Road, Acocks Green, Birmingham, admitted charges of burglary, theft, causing criminal damage, and possessing cannabis – and was found guilty of dangerous driving.
He was jailed for two years, suspended for two years, ordered to do 200 hours unpaid work with a four-month electronically-monitored curfew from 7.30pm to 6am, and banned from driving for 18 months.
Prosecutor Ian Windridge said Beasmore was one of two men in a VW Passat which pulled up at a house in Tanworth Lane, Beoley, one afternoon in August.
They pulled a CCTV camera from the wall of the house before breaking in and stealing the keys to a Mercedes van parked outside.
However the camera kept filming as the two men, wearing dark clothing and hoods, hitched a trailer to the van.
One of them took the van, containing £3,000 in power tools, towing the £2,500 trailer, while the other followed in the Passat, which returned an hour later at 4.30pm.
The men did further damage to security cameras at the house before leaving – only to return again at 5.20pm.
But by then the police had been contacted by the owner, who was on holiday in Cornwall but had been alerted to the break-in by his computer.
Officers arrived and, with the police car blocking the exit, Beasmore rammed it with the Passat, disabling both cars.
The two burglars ran for it but the officers had a police dog and Beasmore was caught.
Delroy Henry, defending, said Beasmore was of previous good character but had fallen on hard times after his employer made a number of redundancies and a relationship he had been in for some time broke down.
“He had an inability to cope with the matters. It is a tale the court will be familiar with: he fell into bad company,” said Mr Henry.
Sentencing Beasmore, Recorder Edward Coke said: “My first reaction was immediate custody. But although you deserve immediate imprisonment, it seems a better course in the long term, for society as well as for you, is for that sentence to be suspended. This is a one-off chance.”
