A THIEF who stole a workman’s vehicle during a tea break has been jailed for nine months.

Daniel Brooke, 31, took a mini digger and a trailer from where they were parked in Old Maltongate, Malton, on July 8, said Rob Galley, prosecuting.

He drove off along the A64 towards his home in West Yorkshire, but the owner used a tracking device to tell police where it was heading.

Brooke got no further than the Tadcaster bypass, where waiting police noticed his transit van seemed to be heavily loaded.

“They decided it was desirable to stop the vehicle,” said Mr Galley.

Inside the van police found the £12,000 digger. The trailer was not there, and has never been recovered.

Brooke, of Crossflats Place, Beeston, pleaded guilty to theft and driving without insurance. He was jailed for six months, plus three months of a suspended sentence he was on at the time for handling stolen goods and other offences. He was also banned from driving for 12 months and ordered to pay £900 court costs. He has a long record for offences involving vehicles and dishonesty.

“The seriousness of this offence was that you travelled some distance from Leeds to Malton to take this equipment. It was potentially worth quite a bit of money,” said the Recorder of York, Judge Stephen Ashurst.

Brooke told York Crown Court: “I was in a bad place at the wrong time, but I want to put all this behind me and get on with my life. To be honest, I owed a bit of money and I had no option.

“I come from a good background. I am the black sheep of the family.”

Mr Galley said the workman parked the digger and trailer in Old Maltongate at 5pm while he went and had some tea. He returned at 6pm, by which time the vehicles had disappeared. But he contacted the police and, using the diggers’ tracking device, gave them a running commentary on the stolen vehicles’ journey.

Brooke said he did not know what had happened to the trailer. He said he had been told if he drove the digger back to Leeds he would have a debt written off.