A “hired hand” who took part in a “professional” break-in at a wholesale warehouse, has been ordered to pay back £7,404 to the company.

Daniel Dodgson was part of a gang which targeted the Batley’s cash and carry premises, near Chester-le-Street, late on March 1, last year.

He claimed he did know what the target was to be when he was driven in a car from the Leeds area to County Durham that night.

Durham Crown Court was told it was only on arrival at the Drum Industrial Estate, on the outskirts of Chester-le-Street, when Dodgson and others in the car met a van carrying accomplices, that he learned he was to help force entry into the warehouse.

Read more: Leeds man admits burglary at County Durham cash and carry warehouse

Two men were said to have used tools to create a hole in the exterior wall before tobacco products were taken from the premises.

The court heard examination of cctv showed the intruders used a ladder to climb onto the outside of the building.

They appeared to have removed other cctv cameras, while footage taken from internal devices picked up sparks from an outside wall and unidentified men entering before making for a storage area where high-value products were kept.

An inventory confirmed 768 ‘units’ of tobacco products, plus a further trolley of cigarettes, worth in total more than £60,000, were taken.

It was a blood droplet found in an examination by scenes of crime officers where the metal sheeting was cut that led to a match with Dodgson’s DNA profile.

He was arrested, after a vehicle stop in the Nottingham area, on July 3, last year.

The 34-year-old defendant, of Kensington Way, Leeds, admitted the burglary.

He spent two months on remand in Durham Prison, said to be his first taste of custody, prior to being sentenced, last October.

His counsel, Sean Smith, told the sentencing hearing: “He says he holds his hands up over this offence and maintains he acted at a relatively low-level, having been approached by so-called friends who knew he was down and out at the time."

Mr Smith said that having spent the first time in his life in prison, the defendant wanted to work with young offenders to ensure they don’t commit the same mistakes he has made.

He added that Dodgson worked as a kitchen supervisor while on remand, but had an offer of a full-time job waiting, upon his release from prison.

Having told Dodgson that he seemed to have been, “very much affected by a first taste of custody”, Recorder Tom Moran noted he had no previous history of burglary on his record, and, so, agreed to suspend the 12-month prison sentence for 18 months.

Read more: Leeds man helped gang plunder tobacco products at Chester-le-Street cash and carry

But it included the need to complete 14 probation-supervised rehabilitation activity days and comply with a 12-month alcohol treatment programme.

Dodgson has now appeared back before the court, via video link from his lawyer’s offices in Leeds, for a crime proceeds settlement hearing.

It was agreed the “benefit figure” from the crime was £63,240, but the available amount to recover from the defendant’s assets was only £7.404.

Mr Smith said it related to the sale price of a van which the defendant uses for work purposes.

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Recorder Shafqat Khan, sitting at Durham for the crime proceeds hearing, told Mr Smith he would make an order for £7,404 to be paid by the defendant as compensation to Batley’s.

He told Dodgson that it could be from the sale of the van or any other means to meet the figure, but it must be paid in full within three months.

Should he fail to meet the payment deadline, Dodgson was told there would be a prison sentence, “in default”, of up to six months.