Burglar snared after leaving his bike helmet in the getaway van

A TAKEAWAY delivery driver left police in shock – after they saw the unusual contents of his car.

The Citroen contained a “bouquet of dead pheasants” in the boot while the driver was making his deliveries.

The motorist was seen by police driving away from a takeaway restaurant on Saturday night but

A BURGLAR was snared when he left DNA in a motorbikecycle helmet he abandoned in a stolen van.

Derby Crown Court heard Keenan Goddard was part of a group who ransacked every room of a Derbyshire home.

The 21-year-old drove the vehicle away but crashed it nearby into a car, climbed out and fled on the back of a motorbike ridden by an accomplice.

But in his frantic bid to escape, the criminal forgot his helmet.

Jailing him for 14 months, suspended for 18 months, Recorder David Richards said: “Dwelling burglaries are pernicious and people like [the victim] value their homes. You live in one and if someone came into your room and started moving things about you would be pretty peed off about that. That is what this is on a grand scale.

“I have seen the photos of his home and it is quite clear he takes pride in it and works hard to get that reward. failing to use his indicators when turning right at a roundabout.

Officers from Mercia police safer neighbourhood team followed the vehicle and it finally came to a halt in the village of Willington.

Police quickly discovered it was being driven without business insurance.

“A number of people made their way to his address and you were one of them.

“Your role was a limited role and I accept you were being directed by someone more streetwise than you. But you were not an unenthusiastic participant.

“However, I have read about you and there is a realistic prospect of rehabilitation in your case. You attend court with your mother and with the help you have around you, you won’t be known as a burglar and a thief, you will be known as Keenan Goddard.”

Christopher Jeyes, prosecuting, said the victim went out with his family on August 30, 2020 and when he returned home around 90 minutes later his Eckington home had been “ransacked”.

He said every room in the property, including the loft, had been searched and around £12,000 in high-value goods were missing.

Mr Jeyes said his van from outside had also been taken and that evidence later gathered found Goddard was the one who drove it away.

He said: “On a nearby road the

The driver was reported for a traffic offence and the vehicle was loaded onto a recovery vehicle to be impounded at a local depot.

However, a spokesman for the team later said: “Hot food was not the only thing on the menu tonight – when officers looked through the window of the car they were van had collided with a car and this defendant climbed out and got on the back of a motorbike. But he left his motorcycle helmet in the footwell of the stolen van and from it his DNA was found.

“It is also fair to say the victim carried out his own searches on social media and the defendant was identified on it.”

Mr Jeyes read out part of a victim impact statement made by the man. In it he told how he and his family put their home up for sale as they wanted to move away from the area.

He said: “He said the family found it particularly distressing that the children’s rooms had been ransacked and searched.”

Goddard, of Richmond Park Rise, Handsworth, Sheffield, pleaded guilty to burglary and theft of the van.

It was not revealed in court whether any of the other gang members had been caught and convicted.

David Webster, mitigating, said his client lives at home with his mother and often goes to stay with his grandmother in Barnsley. shocked to see a bouquet of dead pheasants in the boot – resulting in a report being issued to local environmental health officers at South Derbyshire District Council.

“People work hard to afford their nice cars. If this driver was involved in a road traffic collision he would not be insured.”