Couple returned from holiday then got burgled
ACOTHAM couple returned home from holiday to find their home safe and sound. But when they popped out to a shop they were burgled, a court heard.
Daniel Lindsay targeted the premises to raise money for heroin.
Though he helped himself to £10,500 worth of possessions he was arrested after being caught on shop cameras using stolen credit cards.
Lindsay, 34, of no fixed address, pleaded guilty to burglary and three charges of fraud.
He also admitted failing to comply with the Sex Offender Register by not giving police a change of address.
Judge Martin Picton jailed him for 36 months.
Stephen Dent, prosecuting, told Bristol Crown Court a couple returned from holiday to their home in Arley Hill, before leaving the premises locked and going to a shop.
When they returned some 25 minutes later they found someone had broken in and stole items including four laptop computers, a camera, two passports and a wallet with credit cards.
Police attended, and the woman householder received a phone call saying someone had tried to use her contactless card, but the transaction was declined.
It transpired Lindsay had tried to use bank cards stolen in the burglary in shops – and was captured on CCTV with the camera he also stole slung around his neck.
Police tracked Lindsay down to a small tent in the corner of St James Park, where they recovered the stolen laptops and passports.
After giving a false name he attempted to run but was apprehended, and he showed police the whereabouts of other stolen items from the break-in.
Matthew Jackson, defending, said his client had been released from custody and after not being prescribed with heroin substitute, which he was told he would get, he committed the burglary in order to get a heroin fix.