A travelling burglar has been jailed for his role in two Cumbria raids — one of which ended in tragedy when an accomplice crashed a stolen quad bike and was killed.
Carlisle Crown Court heard today how a farmer was alerted to a break-in on his Alston premises by members of a Facebook farm watch group in darkness on January 6, 2020.
He found gates open, chains and padlocks snapped, and a red Honda quad bike valued at £4,500 missing. Eyewitnesses reported seeing it being driven towards County Durham with two vans following.
The rider, 39-year-old David Young, was travelling without lights, no helmet and as fast the machine could go. But Mr Young, a married dad from Bishop Auckland, lost control, crashed and was then hit by an oncoming Audi. He suffered fatal head and neck injuries.
Two other members of the County Durham-based crime gang — Keiron Heslop, 29, and 43-year-old Shaun Arthur Murray — were later brought to book.
One of the vans seen by witnesses was registered to Heslop who, in June 2021, went on to commit further burglaries and thefts on a multi-unit industrial site at Redhills Lane, near Penrith. Two Ford Transit vans and keys were stolen, significant damage caused and the site owners were left with a £10,000-plus bill.
Heslop, of Denton, Darlington, admitted burglary and theft in relation to the Penrith crimes having got involved in a desperate bid to clear a cocaine debt against a background of intimidation. He and Murray, of Hill Terrace, Billy Row, Crook, pleaded guilty to burglary and theft at the Alston farm.
Both were sentenced today (MON) when Heslop’s barrister, Richard Herrman, said of Mr Young’s death: “It developed into the most shocking and tragic even imaginable.”
After hearing mitigation, Recorder Philip Grundy jailed Heslop for 23 months and suspended Murray’s eight-month prison sentence for a year.
Murray must also complete a rehabilitation requirement, and a 10-week electronically monitored nighttime curfew.
