Doorbell camera catches would-be teen burglar trying to break in as Pudsey occupants slept
A desperate teenager who broke into a parked car then tried to use keys he found to let himself into the owner’s home - but was seen on the door bell camera.
Lewis Mayne was jailed at Leeds Crown Court after he admitted a string of offences, including three car break-ins, fraud by false representation and attempted burglary.
The 19-year-old appeared in court via video link from HMP Doncaster, having been recalled on licence for a previous offence of dangerous driving in 2023.
Prosecutor Eugene Cross said a resident on Smalewell Road in Pudsey woke on June 15 and found his car had been opened and an untidy search carried out.
The man checked his doorbell camera and spotted Mayne entering the vehicle at 12.27am. He left then returned at 1.43am, trying a set of keys he found in the car to enter the home, but none fitted the front door. He then walked away. Mr Cross said that Mayne had simply “tried his luck”.
The next day a resident from Ambleside Gardens in Pudsey received an alert that his bank card was being used. He had left his wallet in the centre console of the car and Mayne had broken in to steal it.
He spent £235 in total in several shops, including Morrisons, Co-op and two service stations.
It was later found that he had also broken into another car on the same street, but came away with only about £1 in loose change.
Mitigating, Tom Doyle said Mayne’s best mitigation were his early guilty pleas and his young age.
He said he had been in the foster-care system since he was 14, that his mother was drug addict and his father is in jail. He said Mayne had fallen in with the wrong crowd and was taking cocaine and cannabis.
Following his release on licence from his last offence, he said he had cut his tag off and “returned to criminality” to survive.
Mr Doyle added: “It was completely criminal and he accepts that. He is hoping to turn his life around and start anew once he is released from prison.”
The judge, Recorder Craig Hassall KC told Mayne there was no alternative to custody and jailed him for four months.