Wolverhampton ‘apprentice’ car thief is locked up
A Wolverhampton father-to-be acting as a 'willing apprentice' has been jailed for stealing a car from outside a house.
Jordan Miller was operating with an experienced criminal when he took the vehicle, Shrewsbury Crown Court heard.
The 19-year-old previously denied offences of burglary, theft and two counts of fraud, but changed his pleas to guilty on the day his trial was due to begin.
Prosecutor Miss Sati Ruck told the court Miller travelled with a number of others from his home in Hillcrest Avenue, Bushbury, on June 5 with the aim of stealing a vehicle.
One of his accomplices entered an unlocked house in Kingston Drive in the Emstrey area of Shrewsbury while an elderly woman and her daughter slept upstairs, to steal a set of car keys.
Miller then drove the car back to Wolverhampton, stopping at two garages en route to purchase fuel using a contactless credit card found in a handbag inside the car.
The theft was reported when the vehicle’s owner discovered it was missing, and it was recovered from near Miller’s house.
Joked
He was arrested and messages about committing a car key burglary were found on his mobile phone. He had also joked about how his victim must be feeling.
Miss Ruck said Miller had previous convictions for criminal damage, road traffic offences and aggravated vehicle taking.
Miss Katie Fox, defending, said Miller struggled with ADHD and was “easily led and very influenced by peer pressure”.
She said: “He was a willing apprentice to a more experienced person, who has faced no charges in relation to this.
"This defendant’s role was that of driver, he was not the person who entered the property.”
Miss Fox said Miller had recently started a business and had the support of his family and pregnant girlfriend.
Judge Peter Barrie sentenced him to 15 months for burglary, four months for theft and one month for each of the two fraud charges, all to run concurrently.
