A crooked carpet fitter who sneaked into a elderly woman's bedroom and stole expensive and sentimental rings from her dresser has been jailed.
Dad-of-two Stephen Leask had been trusted by the pensioner to lay carpets in her Low Fell home but, when her back was turned, he decided to steal from her. A court heard that the 31-year-old crept upstairs into her bedroom and helped himself to £8,000-worth of jewellery, which was in a box in her dressing table.
When the victim noticed the rings were missing a few days later, she informed the police and officers later got a call from Newcastle Jewellers shop, who reported that Leask had pawned the items to them for £900. The crook was arrested and initially denied any involvement in the theft but later confessed when he was shown CCTV from the pawn shop.
Leask, of Woodside Avenue, in Throckley, has now been locked up for 14 months after he pleaded guilty to burglary. Jailing him, Judge James Adkin, the Recorder of Durham, said it was an offence primarily motivated by greed, adding: "It has to be a sentence of immediate custody as the victim was particularly vulnerable, there was a breach of a huge degree of trust and there has to be a deterrent to people who go into the homes of others to do work but then steal from them."
Newcastle Crown Court was told that the victim had been at home on April 18 this year and had tried on the rings before placing them into a box in her dresser. The following day, two men came to fit carpets at her address and one of them was Leask.
Rachael Glover, prosecuting, said, four days later, the pensioner noticed that the rings were missing and informed the police. Ms Glover added: "On April 25, Newcastle Jewellers informed police that a male had entered the shop and provided his details as Stephen Leask and said the rings he had belonged to his grandmother and they purchased the rings for £930.
"He was arrested the following day and £100 was seized from his living room. In addition, £20 was seized from his person."
In a statement, the victim said she'd initially "felt bad" for accusing the carpet fitters and questioned whether she'd been the one to mislay the rings, some of which she'd inherited from her mother. The pensioner added: "I believed the rings had gone forever and I was extremely upset about this.
"I feel my privacy has been invaded as someone has gone through my bedroom and gone through my draws." The court heard that the rings had since been returned to the victim and it was the shop that was £930 out of pocket.
Laura Miller, defending, said Leask only had one previous conviction, a driving matter from 2021, and was extremely remorseful. Ms Miller continued: "He committed a moment of madness. He acted out of stupidity. His mental health was in decline and he was in a very stressful financial situation."
