Repeat offender jailed after being caught driving stolen £80k BMW X5 hours after Wakefield burglary
A repeat offender has been jailed after he was caught driving a stolen BMW X5 - just hours after it was taken from a man’s driveway.
Daniel Fryer was jailed at Leeds Crown Court earlier this week after pleading guilty to the handling of stolen goods, following the burglary in Wakefield.
Prosecutor Verity Barnes told the court how the 27-year-old was spotted on CCTV driving the stolen BMW X5, with an estimated value of £80,000, in Barnsley just 11 hours after the break-in. His phone records showed him in an area near the burglary at the time of the incident.
The homeowner, who wasn’t named in court, went to bed on the evening of October 9 2025 after securing his property, only to awake the next morning to find the contents of a bag strewn everywhere and his car missing from the drive.
Inside the vehicle at the time of the burglary was a number of items with “substantial value,” including golf clubs valued at £2,500, an electric caddy trolley valued at £1,000, and an Apple MacBook laptop valued at £2,000, the court heard.
Fryer, who has a lengthy sheet of 13 convictions from 34 offences and was on license at the time of the event, gave a no comment interview when first arrested by police, but later pleaded guilty at his first court hearing.
In mitigation, defence counsel Richard Canning conceded that the 27-year-old had a “bad record of dishonesty,” but should receive full credit for his early guilty plea, and accepted that he would face jail time.
Judge Howard Crowson sentenced Fryer to 18 months behind bars, of which he will serve 40 per cent - approximately nine months. After which he will be released under supervision and on probation for the remainder of his sentence.