A BURGLAR was given a £200 ‘reward’ by members of a gang after he stole a £30,000 car in a pub raid.

Gary Slater, who has 148 criminal offences on his record including nine burglaries, was trapped by blood he left at the scene of the break-in at the Three Horseshoes in Billingham, on July 15 this year.

The car, a SsangYong Rexton SUV, was later abandoned in Grove Hill, Middlesbrough, with Slater saying he had no idea what happened to it.

Prosecuting at Teesside Crown Court, Rachel Masters said the pub was empty at the time of the burglary, but CCTV cameras captured Slater and two other men present.

In a police interview the defendant said he used a screwdriver to smash a window, searching a bar area, where cash from the tills and expensive bottles of alcohol were taken.

Car keys to the SUV were also stolen and used to drive the vehicle away.

Ms Masters said Slater was given the cash reward as his share of the profit from the raid.

Slater, 35, whose address was given by the court as Holme House Prison, Stockton, admitted burglary and taking without consent also asked for three shoplifting offences to be taken into account.

Graeme Gaston, mitigating, said the defendant had fully co-operated with police and regretted his actions.

He said: “He was having trouble with his finances, had relapsed back into drugs and was finding it difficult to cope.”

The Recorder of Middlesbrough, Judge Simon Bourne-Arton said Slater had spent all his life committing offences and had gone “completely off the rails” this year.

He jailed him for two years, four months.