Masked burglars raided 84-year-old County Durham man's home and made off with safe containing £14,000 cash; Shay Johnson, 19, Tom Beeston, 20, and Kearan Briggs, 22, burgled a County Durham property and stole a safe from a bedroom.
Byline: By, David Huntley
Three masked burglars made off with a safe containing £14,000 after raiding the home of an 84-year-old man.
Shay Johnson, 19, Tom Beeston, 20, and Kearan Briggs, 22, burgled a County Durham property and stole a safe from a bedroom containing thousands of pounds in cash. All three men had their faces covered, with the safe being found prized open at another farm by police soon after.
It was the second burglary that Beeston had carried out, as days before he had burgled a farm with two other accomplices, where a £30,000 Ford Ranger was stolen. A Honda motorcycle was also taken and around £1,500 worth of damage had been caused to the farm during the incident.
Johnson, of Front Street, Station Town, Beeston, of Emmerson Square, Thornley, and Briggs, of Front Street, Shotton Colliery, appeared at Durham Crown Court. Johnson and Briggs were both sentenced for one count of burglary, with Beeston being sentenced for two counts of burglary, driving while disqualified and theft. He was also sentenced for affray, which was related to another incident in Peterlee.
The court heard that the burglary involving the safe happened on February 13 this year, when the three defendants turned up at a property in Bishop Auckland. The householder, an 84-year-old man, had left the house earlier but returned to find it had been ransacked.
Martin Towers, prosecuting, said: "He returned to see entry had been forced and a safe containing over £14,000 had been stolen from the bedroom wardrobe. The money belonged to his daughter, who was on holiday abroad. Valuable watches were in the same room but had been left.
"CCTV showed three men wearing face coverings with a crowbar approaching the house. They were then seen leaving carrying the safe. The safe was later found forced open without the cash in a stable at the farm of a family member of Beeston." The court was told Johnson, Beeston and Briggs were later identified from CCTV and clothing comparisons.
The court heard that days before the burglary, overnight between February 6 and 7, Beeston had been involved in another burglary alongside two other unknown men. That one happened at a farm in Castle Eden, with a Ford Ranger being stolen from a barn on the grounds.
Mr Towers, continued: "A [neighbour] was awoken by the sound of a dog barking and heard her door handle rattling and male voices. She banged on the window and three men were seen running from the address wearing face coverings. They had...
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