A burglar who asked a stranger to help him get a TV he’d just stolen back home has been jailed for a string of break-ins.
Steven Convey burgled homes and businesses, often in broad daylight, taking jewellery, valuables and a car.
He is now starting a three-year sentence after pleading guilty to six burglaries and two attempted burglaries.
Nicola Sully, prosecuting, said that he stole jewellery, computers and designer goods worth more than £30,000 and took a car – a Volkswagen Beetle.
Convey tried to take another car, a Nissan Note, and also stole a wallet, bank cards and cash, the television and bedding.
He admitted all the offences at Lewes Crown Court on Wednesday 3 September when Judge Stephen Mooney remanded Convey in custody until he could be sentenced.
The first burglary was in St Nicholas Road, in Brighton, on Sunday 20 July last year when Convey was seen trying to find an unsecured property.
He entered a communal door and was confronted by a resident before going on to fabricate a story about being at the wrong address.
A short while later, a nearby property was burgled and their VW car was stolen. Convey was found to have been the man responsible.
Four days later, Convey broke into another property and stole several items including a TV.
He flagged down a workman who was driving along London Road, asking for a lift to his address with “his TV”. Of course, the TV was not his.
The break-ins happened in St Nicholas Road, Kensington Street, Queen’s Place, Ditchling Road and King’s Road, in Brighton, over a fortnight in the summer.
Convey was tracked down and arrested in London on Monday 4 August, where a number of items were found on him, including jewellery stolen during recent burglaries.
Convey, 35, of The Beeches, at New Beach Holiday Village, in Hythe Road, Dymchurch, Kent, was charged the next day with five counts of burglary and theft and burgling a gym.
He was also charged with two counts of attempted burglary, the theft of the VW Beetle, trying to steal the Nissan car and fraud by false representation.
At Lewes Crown Court on Thursday 9 October, Recorder Carla Revere jailed Convey for three years.
Detective Constable James Botting said: “Convey relentlessly targeted properties in Brighton for his own gain.
“A dedicated team worked tirelessly to gather evidence and pursue every available line of inquiry, leading to indisputable evidence of Convey’s offending being uncovered.
“A guilty plea followed and now Convey has been jailed.”
Reminds me that we’re seeing a lot more “rogue traders” about at the moment. This is often a tactic used to find out about people’s home routines. Let’s look out for each other, alright?
That lot again, deport ASAP