Known criminal refused to say how he received Mini Cooper stolen in Wakefield house burglary

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A criminal with a long record has been jailed after he refused to say how he received a Mini Cooper stolen in a house burglary.

Jamie Hirst’s finger prints were found on the false plates of the £18,000 vehicle that police stopped weeks after the break-in.

Leeds Crown Court heard how the home in Ackworth was burgled on July 10 last year during daylight hours while the occupier was out. When she returned home she found a window had been smashed and left ajar, prosecutor Zanesha Herbert told the court.

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Hirst was jailed for 18 months for handling the stolen Mini Cooper. (pic by WYP)Hirst was jailed for 18 months for handling the stolen Mini Cooper. (pic by WYP)
Hirst was jailed for 18 months for handling the stolen Mini Cooper. (pic by WYP) | WYP

A drawer had been left open where she kept the keys to her Mini, which was missing from the driveway.

On August 16, officers on patrol spotted the Mini and noticed false plates had been placed over the originals. They found Hirst’s prints on the plates and the window.

The 44-year-old was arrested but gave a no-comment interview to police.

He later admitted a charge of handling stolen goods. Hirst, of South Street, Hemsworth, has 13 previous convictions for 36 offences including burglary, going equipped for burglary, violence, drug trafficking and theft.

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Mitigating, Eddison Flint, conceded that Hirst had given no reason on how he came into possession of the Mini. He said Hirst had been working with the addiction counselling service, Turning Point, and was trying to overcome his issues.

He said that Hirst had not offended since this incident.

Judge Tom Bayliss KC told him: “It’s plain you have a drug problem, but it’s also plain you have offending consistently for many, many years.

“No satisfactory explanation has been given as to why it was you had the car. It was quite sophisticated offending.”

He jailed him for 18 months and said he had little option but to lock him up because of his “poor compliance” with court orders in the past.

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