A serial thief with a history of sneaking into educational buildings to steal students' mail and personal effects was caught in the act at a Durham University college.

Van Elvin Courchene was seen acting suspiciously near the students’ post duckets at South College, Durham, on February 11, last year.

Durham Crown Court was told a porter saw him enter the college building at 4.10pm and kept an eye on him as he was acting in an unnatural manner.

Martin Towers, prosecuting, told the court that the defendant went to the pigeon holes where students’ mail was placed for later collection.

The Northern Echo: Van Elvin Courchene, inset, admitted stealing mail intended for students after sneaking into St

He was challenged by the porter as he placed his hands into one of the pigeon holes.

While security staff were summoned after he was challenged on suspicion of allegedly trying to steal items of mail, a search of his bag revealed he was carrying, “relevant material”.

When police subsequently arrived an officer also checked the contents of Courchene’s bag, to find a torn envelope and three letters, two with Chinese lettering.

Mr Towers said one of the letters contained a Christmas card bearing a photograph and another was a silhouette card, all addressed to students at nearby St Mary’s College.

Students at the college confirmed the items of mail recovered were intended for them, but which they had never collected.

A colleague of the porter who raised the alert at South College said he recalled seeing the defendant unsuccessfully trying to gain entrance to the premises on a previous occasion, in the summer of 2022.

The Northern Echo:

When interviewed by police, the defendant denied committing any offences, but, at a plea hearing at the court in October, he admitted a single count of burglary at St Mary’s College.

He denied a similar charge relating to the incident at South College, and a trial date was fixed to be heard at the court this month.

But, Courchene, of Newcastle-under-Lyme, in Staffordshire, changed his plea to guilty at the court in January and the sentence was adjourned for preparation of a background probation report.

Mr Towers told yesterday's (Tuesday, March 12) sentencing hearing that the defendant is aged 45, and has, “a significant record” of 66 previous offences.

The Northern Echo: Defendant Van Elvin Courchene has a history of straling post and personal effects from university

Several of those were deemed “relevant”, including an attempted burglary at a hotel, where he tried to enter numerous bedrooms, in 1998, but also separate break-ins at a student library and a post room at universities in Manchester, further offences from the language school at Oxford University, and postal thefts at colleges at Cambridge University, in 2015 and 2019.

Marc Atkins, in mitigation, said the Probation Service report recommends therapeutic intervention for the defendant, who has a background of diagnosis of Asperger’s syndrome, a form of autism, said to be a feature behind Courchene's historic offending.

“In this case, he simply made his mind up to travel from Staffordshire to Durham and went to the university.”

Mr Atkins said the defendant has a degree in international business management from 2006 and is familiar with educational establishments.

“Although people were on the premises his only confrontation was with the porter.

“His method is to tailgate people going through doors to access areas he is not permitted to access.”

Mr Atkins said the defendant grew up in the care system and has had professional support for much of his adult life.

But when unsupported he has a history of gambling and alcohol addiction, which led him into debt, and to commit theft to pay off those debts.

Mr Atkins said the defendant is now in receipt of personal independence payments (PIPs) to which he is entitled but which he has not previously received.

These have helped to alleviate his debts and, while out of work, he volunteers in the community, including for English disability athletics.

Mr Atkins said in the lead up to the offences in Durham the defendant had the setback of failing to be selected for work as part of the Paralympic Games, combined with the aftermath of the death of his mother.

It represents his only offending since 2019, but, now receiving support from the Lifeworks charity, he has remained otherwise trouble-free in recent years.

Judge Nathan Adams said it is clear the defendant has, “an impulse” to commit this type of crime and, combined with his gambling and alcohol-related debts, saw it as a means of resolving them.

The judge said he hoped the Durham offences of last year represented a “one-off” relapse in Courchene's recent history and would not mark a return to his previous history of crime.

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Having read the background report and a similar document from Lifeworks, he said he had concluded the appropriate sentence was a two-year community order, with 32 days’ rehabilitation work with the Probation Service.

The court heard the Probation Service considered the defendant to be unsuitable for unpaid work. 

Judge Adams warned the defendant that if he breaches the order within the next two years he would appear back before him and face a likely prison sentence.