A thief who was caught trying to steal clothes after a stolen tracksuit he was wearing set off an alarm has been jailed.
Bradley Carney, 28, walked into a Middlesbrough branch of JD Sports in an attempt to steal clothing but was wearing stolen Hugo Boss items with a security tag attached – this set off the shop’s alarm.
He had stolen the tracksuit – part of a haul worth £500 – from the nearby Teesside Park branch on November 4 before driving with an accomplice to the second shop on Skippers Lane, Middlesbrough, to steal again.
But Durham Crown Court heard he set off an alarm as he walked in, asking staff afterwards if he was banned, according to prosecutor Jonathan Gittins.
Mr Gittins said Carney ‘referred to the incident on Teesside Park’ when confronted – staff in Middlesbrough had been alerted to the earlier theft.
Carney took more clothes and tried to walk out with them but staff recovered the stock and called police.
He was arrested two days later and has since pleaded guilty to robbery and attempted theft.
In 2020 he was jailed for 56 months after bursting into a family home in Hemlington, Middlesbrough, armed with a white wooden pole and a broken bottle.
During that effort Carney’s accomplice demanded cash but he hid from the family’s dog in the kitchen.
Lee Goodchild, mitigating, said Carney had been drinking and taking drugs when he stole from the JD Sports branch.
‘His probation report finds he is a gentleman who is polite when not on drugs. He’s pleasant to deal with,’ Mr Goodchild added.
Carney’s father ‘has his own gym and teaches boxing’ – he plans to take Carney ‘under his wing and get him exercising, to occupy his mind’, Mr Goodchild said.
He asked Judge Richard Bennett to consider a community order or a suspended sentence.
Judge Bennett told Carney: ‘During the robbery of JD Sports at Teesside Park, your accomplice forced his way out of the shop. You blocked staff from stopping him.
‘At the branch on Skippers Lane, you referred to the incident on Teesside Park and tried to leave the store with clothing. You had the brass neck to try and steal again after your robbery.
‘You led a law-abiding life until 2019, when you started to take cocaine. It may be on the next occasion, you are looking at a very significant sentence indeed’.
Carney, of Larkspur Road in Marton, Middlesbrough, was jailed for 22 months.
