Thief’s ‘good morning’ to victim before stealing van

A BLATANT thief said “good morning” to a newspaper deliveryman, before jumping into his van and speeding off in it, a court heard.

Karl Ward beeped the horn and waved at the driver, who had left the keys in the ignition while posting a newspaper through a letter box in The Ridgeway, Rothley, at 5am.

At 12.40pm that day, Ward failed to stop for a police officer in an unmarked car, on Leicester’s Watermead Way.

Lucky Thandi, prosecuting, said the defendant ignored the blue lights and siren along Melton Road and into Thurmaston, at 50mph in a 30mph area.

Another officer in a marked police car then took up the pursuit as Ward sped off in the stolen Peugeot van at 80 and 90mph in 50mph areas - travelling on the opposite side of the road and going the wrong way on a roundabout.

Forty-year-old Ward, also known at Karl Leake, eventually crashed in Wheeldale Close in Beaumont Leys, near a city council depot, and was seen jumping over a wall and disappearing.

At around 3.40pm he activated an intruder alarm inside the depot, where he had been hiding, as he used an axe to try and open locked roller shutters.

A police dog, Elvis, located the defendant within the depot, where Ward was successfully arrested.

During a search at a police station he was found to have a wrap of heroin concealed between his buttocks.

Miss Thandi said Ward was on bail when he went on to commit a burglary at Vale View Equestrian Centre, in Old Dalby, near Melton, on March 27 this year.

Entry was gained by smashing an office window, where the defendant’s blood and DNA was found at the scene.

A safe containing £3,630 was stolen as well as further cash taken from two gaming machines and a till.

Ward, of no fixed address, but formerly of Hathern, near Loughborough, admitted aggravated vehicle taking of the van which was driven dangerously, causing damage at the council depot and possession of heroin.

He also pleaded guilty to burgling the equestrian centre.

Judge Jinder Singh Boora said Clark had “a litany of offending,” of 98 crimes on his record, mainly for dishonesty, but also some motoring offences.

Passing sentence, he said: “You have a history of offending and I’m surprised your wife, who is here today, has stayed with you for as long as she has.

“For a 40-year-old man to behave in this way - the offences are more suggestive of someone in his late teens or early 20s.”

The judge said Ward’s offences were “utterly disgraceful,” and his driving had placed other road users at risk.

James Keeley, mitigating, said Ward had a history of drug misuse but weaned himself off them “for a considerable period” before relapsing.

He said: “When the defendant has family problems he resorts to the emotional crutch of drugs to help him pull through.

“The taking of the van was a spur-of-the-moment thing when he was out early in the morning.

“When he realised an officer in an unmarked car had seen him he panicked and drove in the way he did.”

Mr Keeley said the burglary at the equestrian centre came about when Ward owed a £50 drug debt and was asked to drive two people to the centre.

Ward claimed he was assaulted by one of the burglars and “coerced into committing the offence” hence his blood being found at the scene.

Mr Keeley said: “He never received a penny from the burglary, although his drug debt of £50 was extinguished.”

The defence barrister added that Ward was now addressing his drug difficulties in custody and was “determined to get his life back” and give his wife some stability and support in the future.

Ward was given a 20-month jail sentence, to run concurrently with a two-year prison sentence he was given on May 14, at Leicester Crown Court, for a series of unrelated offences, including dangerous driving. The judge said all matters should have been dealt with together in May, which he had taken into account.

Ward was banned from driving for three years and 10 months.