Car key burglar who stole BMW and Audi is jailed
A man involved in the theft of £50,000 worth of cars from outside a family's home has been jailed for more than two years.
The Audi A6 and BMW - both nearly new - were parked on the drive of the address in Coronation Drive, Willenhall, when Craig Edwards struck, Wolverhampton Crown Court was told.
He had at least one accomplice, who has not been traced, and entered the property through an insecure lounge window as the occupants slept, explained Mr Mark Phillips, prosecuting.
Once in the hall they took car keys together with £180 cash and a credit card, which was used within minutes of the cars leaving in convoy around 2am on June 6, it was said.
The card was successfully used to buy goods from two service stations during the early hours of the morning but by the time another purchase was attempted around lunch time at a Spar store in Willenhall the card had been cancelled following discovery of the burglary.
The Audi had a tracker that helped police to find the it parked outside the home of a relative of Edwards, continued Mr Phillips.
The BMW was seen being driven fast in heavy rain by officers shortly after the crime but before the theft had been reported.
Soon afterwards it was abandoned on the drive of a house in Lime Street, Walsall close to 3am, waking the occupant.
He went outside and was told by the man parking the vehicle: 'People are after me. Can I leave the car for an hour?' Then he ran off and was later identified as the defendant, the court was told.
Edwards, who had 13 previous convictions involving 27 separate offences, was in hospital for unrelated treatment when traced by police four days later.
Mr Timothy Harrington, defending, maintained: "The front window had been left open and so the burglary may have been an element of opportunism rather than deliberate targeting.
"He had never burgled a domestic property before and the offence was unsophisticated. He used the credit card at premises with CCTV without making any attempt to disguise himself and left a purchase receipt from one of them in a stolen car."
Edwards from Cumberland Road, Walsall admitted burglary and fraud. He was jailed for two years three months by Judge Peter Barrie, who told him: "This was a burglary of high value with the two vehicles worth up to £50,000 but they were both recovered, apparently undamaged."
