A burglar has been jailed for three years after he went back to a remote farm near Huddersfield which he had previously targeted.
Leeds Crown Court heard Christopher Collins was convicted in 2007 of an offence at the farm on Ludhill Lane, Farnley Tyas.
In the early hours of October 24 last year he returned to the property with at least one other person and they went into a storeroom which was part of the farmhouse.
Tools, including a hedge trimmer and a chopsaw were among the items taken while the thieves also helped themselves to some icepops from the freezer, Stephanie Hancock prosecuting told the court.
They then went into a separate barn where vehicles were kept and a VW Golf belonging to a friend of the complainant’s son was stolen.
The burglaries were discovered around 7.30am and a dog walker alerted the householder to a bag containing mobile phone and chargers dumped with an ice-pop wrapper on a public footpath in the area.
Miss Hancock said it was forensic evidence from that wrapper which linked Collins to the burglary. He was arrested at an address on November 4 where the chop saw was found. The VW Golf was also recovered about a third of a mile away.
Gillian Batts, representing Collins, said they had not attempted to enter the main body of the farmhouse and he maintained he was not the person who drove the Golf away.
“He is realistic enough to appreciate there will be a further custodial sentence,” she said.
Collins, aged 29, of New Street, Netherton, admitted the two burglaries.
Jailing him, Recorder David Dobbin said it was clear he and others went to the farm in a secluded area of the countryside.
He told Collins: “It was vulnerable because it was away from other property and it was property you yourself knew well having burgled it on a previous occasion.”
He said that previous burglary as well as his record of past offending were aggravating features in the case.
