A burglar who gave a householder “nightmares” and used a special tool to open locked doors at homes in York has been jailed for over three years.
Sean Beard, 33, went on a two-and-a-half-hour burglary-and-theft spree in the Foxwood and Lowfield areas using a lockpick to prise open secured doors to garages and a works vehicle, York Crown Court heard.
Beard, a prolific thief with over 200 offences on his record, was notorious in west York as a thief who even top-level security couldn’t deter.
Prosecutor Victoria Ball said that Beard, from Clifton, used a specially cut key to prise open locks to the victims’ garages and vehicles by a method known as ‘lock- bumping’.
Such tools are used by locksmiths to manipulate any type of lock, include Yales, but the versatile keys have been the subject of much concern of late due to their potential misuse when in the wrong hands.
At the time of the burglary spree in the early hours of 23 August, Beard was subject to a criminal-behaviour order banning him from touching or entering any unattended vehicles and going to certain areas of York around Foxwood and Acomb.
Just after 2am, he turned up at a couple’s semi-detached home on Teder Road, Lowfield, where the female victim received an alert on her phone from her Ring doorbell security camera.
When she looked at the live footage beamed from her driveway, she saw a man breaking into her garage, the interior door of which connected to their house.
“She shouted to her husband to go outside and confront the intruder,” said Ms Ball. “The defendant heard this and ran away empty-handed.”
When the victim later checked CCTV footage, she noticed that Beard had also tried the door handle of her husband’s vehicle.
“He then walks to the garage, pulls out a bump key and opens the garage door, and uses a torch to inspect the interior, before being distracted,” added Ms Balls.
Steals from relative
After fleeing from the property in Lowfield, Beard targeted another nearby house 14 minutes later.
The owner of that property – a distant relative of Beard’s – was not in at the time as he was on a family trip to Norfolk, but he had left his work van parked outside his home.
CCTV footage showed Beard breaking into the van through a side door and removing power tools.
About half an hour later, at 3am, Beard targeted another house in Foxwood Lane while the owners, a young couple, were on holiday.
The homeowner’s wife received a CCTV alert on her phone that there was suspicious activity outside her home.
“When they viewed CCTV, Beard was seen walking through their drive holding some tools,” said Ms Ball.
“As he approached the garage, he inserted a bump key into the garage door and opened it.
“He used a flashlight to inspect the interior of the garage and entered.”
Moments later, Beard is seen emerging from the garage with the male householder’s £300 Trek bike. He then mounts the bike and rides away.
About one-and-a-half-hours later, he returned to his distant relative’s home – which was in the exclusion zone which Beard was not allowed to enter under the terms of the criminal-behaviour order – and broke into his work van again, using torchlight to inspect the interior. He then walked away clutching yet more stolen tools.
The value of the power tools taken from both raids on the work van was £1,069. Some of the tools, including drills and motor tools, were recovered, but others worth £579 were not.
On Sunday 24 August he entered the Co-operative store on Beagle Drive. He selected two packs of razor blades and three bottles of shaving foam before walking out without making payment.
A short time later he was detained by two PCSOs and arrested.
After refusing to be interviewed, he was charged with theft of a vehicle, namely the Trek bike, theft from a vehicle, two counts of burglary and two counts of breaching a criminal-behaviour order. He initially denied all matters but ultimately admitted the six offences.
Sleepless nights
The serial thief, sporting a well-groomed goatee beard, appeared for sentence via video link today (Thursday) after being remanded in custody.
In a statement read out by the prosecution, the woman who watched live footage of the break-in at her home on Teder Road said she no longer felt safe in her home.
She said the sight of Beard’s face on the live video footage had given her sleepless nights which were “fraught with nightmares and restlessness”.
She added: “I recently found out this individual is a well-known offender targeting the west area of York in places like Foxwood and Acomb. This individual has taken my peace of mind.”
The man whose Trek bike was stolen said he and his partner had since suffered with anxiety and stress.
He said the bike, which he had owned for over a decade, had sentimental value because it was a gift from his father.
He added: “It is concerning to me that two security cameras and a flashlight were not enough to deter him.”
He and his partner had since spent money on improving security around their home, including “locking things away inside an already locked garage”.
Beard’s long and unedifying criminal record included 97 previous convictions for 244 offences including 138 thefts, two burglaries and 38 breaches of a criminal-behaviour order.
Defence barrister Christian Mills said there were “ongoing concerns” about Beard’s mental health and that his client had told a probation officer that he was “hearing voices” and experiencing hallucinations.
He added that Beard, of Tennyson Avenue, had stolen the items “to keep himself sustainable” during a period of homelessness.
Recorder Patrick Palmer said that Beard’s latest thieving spree had had a “considerable” effect on the victims.
Beard, sat with his knees up to his chest and his head in his hands in the live-link custody booth, was handed a jail sentence of three years and four months.
The judge told the Clifton key criminal that he would only serve half of the 40-month sentence behind bars before being released on prison licence.
PC Ricci Haslam from North Yorkshire Police said: “Officers previously engaged with Beard to get the CBO issued in order to help him stay away from certain areas to protect local residents and businesses from crime.
“However he has been persistent in his offending and I’m glad to see that he has now been handed a custodial sentence.
“As this case shows we work closely with members of the public, businesses and partners in our communities to pursue those who commit such crimes.”
