A serial burglar who targeted businesses and a church during an epic thieving spree in Harrogate has been jailed for two years.

Shane Betts, 30, embarked on a month-long crime spree in which he stole an array of expensive items worth up to £15,000, York Crown Court heard.

The prolific criminal began his thieving spree by stealing an iPhone, thought to be worth £985, from a colleague at the Thai restaurant where Betts was working at the time.

Betts was a new employee at the Sukhothai restaurant in Cheltenham Parade when the theft occurred on March 22. The victim left her phone in her jacket pocket but when she returned home, she realised it was missing.

Prosecutor Kelly Clarke said:

The ‘Find my iPhone’ tracker was used to locate the handset in the vicinity of West Park United Reform Church on Victoria Avenue, but when police arrived, it couldn’t be found.

However, police later received a report of a break-in at the church and officers suspected that the phone – and Betts – were inside.

On March 24, workmen renovating the church noticed foodstuffs in a cupboard that weren’t there before, and various items had been moved. They also noticed that one of the church keys was missing, along with two microphones worth £100 each and four pieces of wireless audio equipment worth about £490.

The loss to the church from that one break-in was put at more than £1,000.

Curiously, there were no signs of forced entry, but the church was forced change the locks on its doors, at great expense.

Outside the church, a tent and clothing were found suggesting someone had been sleeping there, and DNA on a cigarette butt provided a forensic link to Betts.

On March 27, a collection bottle with £20 inside was stolen from the church and a few days later, despite the locks having been changed, the intruder had got in again through a door.

Targets Harlow Carr

Betts, who was now on the run, then targeted RHS Harlow Carr Gardens on Crag Lane, Beckwithshaw. 

On April 5, the gardens reported a break-in at the mess hut where an intruder had stolen items including headphones, several laptops, a tablet, binoculars, phone chargers, sunglasses, gardening equipment, gloves and ear defenders after smashing the lock on the door. Some of those items were found within the horticultural grounds.

The value of the items was put at “well over £4,000, if not on its way to £5,000”.

The following day, police received a report that another staff area had been broken into which gave the burglar access to the Japanese Shop where he stole two kimonos and two paper fans.

On April 7, the intruder broke in again for the third consecutive night, but nothing was stolen.

On April 22, Ostle & Maillard, the boxes-and-carton manufacturer based at Windsor House on Cornwall Road, reported that its offices had also been burgled. CCTV showed that the break-in had occurred on April 21.

Various items were stolen including an iPad, Apple iPhones, a Mapbook, laptops and an external hard drive. The company used the iPhone tracker app which traced the handset to an area near the Valley Gardens where an “encampment” was discovered, along with numerous items described as an “Aladdin’s Cave of stolen electronic devices”.

Camped in Valley Gardens

At around the same time, police received yet another report of a break-in, this time at Central Nurseries on Nursery Lane, where an intruder had broken in through a mesh fence which had been cut back and opened.

The intruder then forced the locks on an external door and interior door to break into the mess room where he stole items including a computer tower, a keyboard and monitor, designer shorts and chocolate and milk powder.

Ms Clarke said that one of the witnesses had found Betts camping in the Valley Gardens. Betts told the man he was homeless. Police were called and he was arrested.

Ms Clarke said that about 40 stolen items were recovered from the encampment. The huge haul included expensive camera equipment.

Betts was ultimately arrested and brought in for questioning on May 16. When officers asked him how long he had been in the area, he replied: “About three-to-four months.”

15 previous convictions

Betts, of no fixed address, was charged with six burglaries, two attempted burglaries and one count of theft. The offences occurred between March 22 and April 20.

He pleaded guilty to all matters and appeared for sentence via video link today (June 13) after being remanded in custody.

Ms Clarke said that Betts, a father-of-one, had 15 previous convictions for 32 offences, about half of which were theft and kindred matters. His previous crimes also included blackmail and offences related to relationship breakdowns.

Defence barrister Catrherine Duffy said that Betts was going through a “very difficult stage in his life” at the time of the burglary spate in Harrogate, having suffered the breakdown of a long-term relationship which led to homelessness.

He had also developed a cocaine-and-alcohol problem and built up a drug debt, which led to the epic thieving spree.

Despite this, he held down employment and was working at the restaurant in Harrogate until he embarked on the burglary splurge. He was now working in the kitchens at Hull Prison – and had been involved in the Christian Faith Support Network since being remanded.

Judge Alex Menary said that Betts’s many victims not only had to replace expensive equipment, but also had to face the cost of “repairing the damage and loss of valuable documents and emails on those devices, and the loss of systems”.

He added: “It’s the repeated targeting of the same premises that is a seriously aggravating factor in this case."

The judge said that such was the epic nature of Betts’s crime spree that it was “difficult to quantify” the value of the stolen items, but that it was “somewhere between £10,000 and more likely approaching £15,000”.

He told Betts that if continued in this vein, he could in the future be “serving a life sentence in short instalments”.

Betts received a two-year jail sentence but was told he would only serve up to half of this behind bars before being released on prison licence.