A burglar with 124 previous convictions who broke into three homes in one night and crashed a stolen car into a school fence has walked free.
Darren Weatherston targeted properties near his then-home in Blyth, Northumberland, leaving families distressed. In one of the break-ins, he stole a car, which he wrote off nearby and caused significant damage to a school fence and bollards.
Newcastle Crown Court heard the burglaries all took place in the early hours of April 30 this year within a 200-metre radius of his home.
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The occupiers in the first house went to bed and left the front door closed but not locked. The woman who lives there woke up just after 2.30am and noticed the front door was open and Weatherston was running away. Nothing had been stolen.
The man who lives there said: "I'm angry about this and the fact I've had my privacy invaded. I'm thankful my wife woke up disturbed the person and that I was here."
A family at a nearby home went to bed with the outside porch door closed but unlocked. Weatherston stole two pairs of shoes. The third burglary victims, a mother and her young children, were targeted shortly after 3am, when Weatherston stole keys and the woman's car, which he crashed into a school fence half a mile away, writing off the car and causing £2,000 of damage to the fence and bollards.
That victim said: "I feel absolutely disgusted, upset and violated someone has entered my house while I and and my children were asleep. I'm shocked and very upset."
Weatherston pleaded guilty to three counts of burglary, theft and he also admitted receiving stolen goods after a business premises in Blyth were burgled in January this year and £4,500 of items were taken. Some of the stolen goods were later found at Weatherston's home.
The 44-year-old, of Kearsley Close, Seaton Delaval, Northumberland, whose 124 previous convictions include 49 for dishonesty-related offences, was sentenced to two years suspended for 18 months with a four-month alcohol abstinence requirement and he must do a thinking skills programme.
Claire Anderson, defending, said Weatherston has a "substance misuse problem" and told her "I feel I've let myself down - it was a massive lapse but coming to prison has helped me".
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