7:48 am, July 9, 2024
A used car dealership worker fired for petty thefts stole four vehicles from the showroom years later.
Lee Scott took the keys to the cars – worth nearly £20,000 – after breaking into Budget Car Centre in Stockton one evening in October 2022.
He then drove them away one by one during the night, helped by another man.
The 38-year-old, of Bolton Court, Middlesbrough, admitted burglary and theft when he appeared at Teesside Crown Court, which was told he’d been fired for petty theft a number of years beforehand, BBC News reported yesterday.
Prosecuting, Chris Baker said Scott – who had a long record of earlier convictions – broke in via an office window on October 4 and stole the first car about 11pm.
CCTV caught him and another man taking the four cars one at a time, going back by taxi for the next one.
Scott’s footprints were also found there.
Damage valued at some £1,100 was caused to the showroom and although all the vehicles were subsequently recovered, one of them was found to have been involved in a crash, said Baker.
He added that Scott was ‘sacked some years ago because of some petty thefts’.
Jailing Scott for nine months, Judge Nathan Adams said the thefts were ‘not overly sophisticated’.
It is unknown if any proceedings were brought against Scott’s accomplice.
Main picture credit: Owen Humphreys/PA Archive/PA Images
This story was originally published at 7.48am on July 9 and updated at 8.29am on July 10 with Lee Scott’s address, via the Darlington & Stockton Times
