A THIEF who was part of a gang targeting agricultural premises for motorbikes and other vehicles has been jailed for a year.

In one of the raids, in Tunstall Lane, Nunthorpe, Middlesbrough, a set of barn doors were forced and a £15,000 Kawasaki motorbike stolen.

The bike was later found burnt out. CCTV showed Arron Stubley taking part in the burglary. He admitted six burglaries in total at farm premises in the Nunthorpe area and also nearby Great Ayton in April this year.

His DNA was also found at the crime scenes and matched to him.

Teesside Crown Court was told that the defendant was also responsible for taking a Renault Clio. However the car, which had been stolen from a metal container at one of the farms, was abandoned after becoming wedged under a security barrier.

Gary Wood, for 26-year-old Stubley, of Grosmont Road, Middlesbrough, said the father of two had been offered work by an employer and had also moved out of the area he was living in so to be away from his former associates.

Judge Peter Armstrong said there were no exceptional circumstances in which he could suspend a prison sentence on Stubley and jailed him for a year.

He said: “These burglaries were serious commercial burglaries.”