A HANDYMAN who burgled the homes of a family he spent seven years working for was yesterday jailed for six years for “a devastating” breach of trust.

Bernard Grainger stole thousands of pounds-worth of treasured possessions from a woman, including her father’s irreplaceable war documents – a year after raiding her daughter’s home.

The 36-year-old even repaired the damage he had caused when forcing entry into the home of one of his victims.

The first victim had nearly £6,500-worth of jewellery and electrical items stolen from her home in North Yorkshire while she was out at work in January last year.

However, it was not until a year later that the odd-job man became a suspect when the second burglary was carried out and police made the link.

The mother, whose house on the outskirts of Darlington was raided in January this year, lost more than £50,000- worth of belongings.

Detectives later found money hidden in a hole in a wall at Grainger’s home in Fairfax Court, Hemlington, Middlesbrough. They found more stashed under floorboards, along with a haul of expensive jewellery.

Yesterday, his victims spoke of their devastation after seeing their trusted handyman sentenced to three years for each of the burglaries.

Speaking outside Teesside Crown Court, the daughter said: “We couldn’t believe that it was Bernie who had burgled our homes – he was a jovial man who used to bring sweets for my children and was always really friendly.

“He had worked with us for several years and was really trusted by us – it has been a devastating breach of trust.

“If he had money troubles, we would have helped out if he had asked, but it doesn’t appear that he wanted the money to feed his family it was simply for himself.”

Her mother added: “The worst thing was that he took my father’s war documents and probably just threw them away.

“Those documents were irreplaceable and to make it worse he knew my father before he died.”

Alexander Menary, prosecuting, said: “He was employed to repair the damage and he said to the family that such offenders should be strung up, locked up and have the key thrown away.”

Robert Mochrie, mitigating, said: “There is very little in way of mitigation. The offences were particularly mean.”

The court heard that more than £6,000 had been recovered from Grainger.

However, the vast majority of the personal items were never traced.

“You were a trusted handyman for the family – you knew the children – the boy had shown you his recentlypurchased computer, the dog trusted you because you had known it since it was puppy,”

said the Recorder of Middlesbrough, Judge Peter Fox, as he sentenced the previouslyconvicted burglar.

The judge sentenced Grainger to three years’ imprisonment for each burglary, to run consecutively.

Speaking after the hearing, Detective Constable Mick Trodden, of Darlington CID, said: “I hope the family can take some comfort from the sentence he has got because this was just a case of greed – he was well paid by the family for the work he carried out for several years.”