Thieving builder caught by secret webcam betrayed friends' trust
He betrayed their trust by stealing £783.50 from a tub where they kept the float for her mobile catering business. He spent the money on drink, drugs and gambling.
Richard BoothEditor
Builder Mark Shiels has been jailed
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A builder who broke into and stole from a client's home has been jailed after they used a webcam to catch him red handed as he took cash from their kitchen.
Mark Shiels was a friend of victims Gemma and Lee Joint and they offered him work doing minor repairs at their home in Newton Abbot when he fell on hard times.
The couple realised money was going missing from its hiding place in their kitchen cupboard and rigged up a motion-activated webcam on a laptop on the worktop opposite.
It relayed images straight to their mobile phones so they were both able to see and identify Shiels when he broke into their home for the fourth time.
Shiels, aged 31, of Drake Road, Newton Abbot, admitted four burglaries and one theft and was jailed for a year by Recorder Mr Rufus Taylor at Exeter Crown Court.
He told him:"This really was a gross breach of trust. This family took pity on you and tried to help you by giving you work. You betrayed that trust by stealing from them.
"Their impact statement shows they feel betrayed and simply did not want to believe it was you. They don't have a lot of money and work had for what they earn."
Mr Brian Fitzherbert, prosecuting, said both Gemma and Lee Joint were friends of Shiels and had worked with him the past but were aware he had split up with his wife, was homeless, and had drink and drug problems.
He asked to borrow money but the couple thought it better to offer him work doing odd jobs at their home while they were out at work. She runs a food van and he is a builder.
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Shiels discovered she kept cash for her business in a kitchen cupboard and started stealing it in July this year. On one occasion he took it while they were there and he let himself out through the kitchen and on the others he either broke in or used a key they had given him.
The couple set up a laptop in the kitchen which was linked to an app on their mobile phones and caught him during his final break in on July 24.
He took a total of £783.50, which was money they needed for their business and to look after their children.
Mr Fitzherbert said:"They are a hard working family with low margins and this had a very significant effect on them."
Shiels was not represented but a probation report said he is ashamed and remorseful and plans to address his issues with drinking and gambling and work as a builder so he can repay the cash.
The report said:"He is disgusted with himself because they were friends who had tried to help him. He says these events happened when he was at a low ebb. His relationship had broken down and he was very upset and homeless.
"He was on a downward spiral in terms of drinking and drug use. He was on anti depressants and felt he had reached rock bottom in terms of his personal situation and emotional state."