A burglar who broke into a disabled man’s home in Selby and stole two of his vehicles has been spared prison.
Dean Kilner, 34, stole car keys, vehicle log books, remote-control planes and tools, after breaking into the property in Elston Avenue.
He then used the keys to take the owner’s cars, worth over £10,000, which he sold to an unsuspecting scrap dealer, York Crown Court heard.
Kilner, a married father-of-two, purportedly left a note pinned to the back-door handle of the property which he claimed was a “calling card” to show the owner he was interested in buying the vehicles, which were up for sale.
Prosecutor Nick Peacock said that following the burglary, police put out an appeal for information on Facebook, whereupon the scrap dealer contacted them to say he had been sold two vehicles of the same description.
Kilner, of Old Farm Way, Brayton, was duly arrested and charged with burglary and the theft of the two vehicles, which were worth £8,000 and £2,500 respectively.
He admitted the vehicle thefts but initially denied the burglary, trying to pin the blame on another named man who he said had spoken to the victim about “procuring” the cars.
He was due to face trial on the burglary charge in April next year but changed his plea to guilty after being rearraigned at the court today.
Facebook appeal
Prosecuting barrister Mr Peacock said the named victim’s house in Selby was up for sale and the owner was not living there at the time because it wasn’t sufficient for his needs as a disabled person.
When the burglary occurred in August last year, he was living at his other property in York where he had just moved.
On 23 August, the victim received a text message from his neighbour in Selby who said she was “pleased” to see that he had apparently sold his two vehicles because they weren’t at his property.
Realising something was amiss, he went to the property and found that someone had broken in by the back door and the two vehicles, including a Kia, were missing.
“Police were alerted and decided to put information requests on Facebook asking the public to assist,” said Mr Peacock.
Six days later, the scrap dealer rang police to say the vehicles matched the ones that Kilner had sold to him for £360. The scrap dealer said he had paid by direct bank transfer into Kilner’s account.
Kilner was brought in for questioning but told police he “knew nothing” about the burglary but was in the street at the time, outside a friend’s home, and saw the cars being driven away but didn’t know by whom.
He said he had pinned a note to the victim’s back door “asking if the cars were for sale”.
It was only when he was presented with evidence of the bank transfer that he admitted he was lying and had tried to “pull the wool over the victim’s eyes”.
Kilner had nine previous convictions for 12 offences including theft, fraud, violence, damaging property and breaching court orders.
Defence barrister Eddison Flint said Kilner had committed the burglary to feed his family because he was “desperate for money” and the state benefits he received weren’t enough.
He said Kilner was now looking to find new employment and added that both stolen vehicles had been recovered.
Judge Sean Morris, the Recorder of York, said the offences were serious enough to warrant a jail term.
But the mitigation advanced by the defence, namely Kilner’s family and financial circumstances, had persuaded him to suspend the sentence.
The 10-month jail sentence was suspended for 18 months and Kilner was ordered to carry out 150 hours of unpaid work.