A TEENAGER was given his first taste of custody after taking part in two house break-ins, which both led to cars being driven from the targeted premises.

Connor Raynes was sentenced to 16 months in a young offenders’ institution after admitting two counts each of burglary and theft, at Durham Crown Court.

The court was told he was with an older, more criminally wiser co-accused, in both crimes, committed overnight on September 5/6 last year, at addresses in Peterlee, County Durham.

A Hyundai vehicle was taken from the driveway of a house burgled in Eastfields, from which £1,000, a mobile phone and the car keys were taken.

Robin Turton, prosecuting, said several hours later a house in Layburn Place was burgled, with a hand bag and its contents, a tablet computer, a mobile phone and keys to a Volkswagen Bora taken.

The Bora, which was taken from the corner of Layburn Place, was spotted on West View Road, turning onto Warren Street, in nearby Horden, at 6.15am.

It was pursued by police, reaching speeds of 60-miles per hour in 30-limit largely residential areas, before driving into, and demolishing, a metal barrier.

Mr Turton said the occupants fled the car, but Raynes was arrested after being found hiding in a garden in a neighbouring street.

He was found to have the keys to the Hyundai, taken earlier, in his pocket.

A handbag and items taken in the earlier break-in were found, containing the defendant’s fingerprints, on a grassed area behind East Dene Way, Peterlee.

Mr Turton said the defendant ran the alibi of being at his girlfriend’s house earlier that night, when the burglaries took place, claiming he was later picked up in the car shortly before it was chased by police.

“By his pleas, he clearly, now, accepts that was not true,” said Mr Turton.

He added that first break-in that night had had a particularly adverse effect, both financially and psychologically, on the householder.

The court heard that the co-accused, who has a more prolific offending history, was jailed for three years for these and other offences, last November.

Stephen Constantine, for Raynes, said he was only lightly convicted, but conceded these offences clearly, “crossed the custody threshold”.

He added that he was “goaded” into joining the accomplice, who was trying door handles.

Imposing a 16-month sentence in a young offenders’ institution, Judge Christopher Prince said that although it was said Raynes went along with a more criminally-sophisticated co-accused, he “knew exactly what he was doing" that night.