A burglar who broke into a family home and stole their BMW and Nissan Qashqai while they slept was captured after police tracked down the vehicles.
Jonathan Lee was part of a group who targeted homes on Shinwell Drive in Peterlee in the early hours of May 16 this year. The 31-year-old managed to break into a family home through a patio door and stole keys to their two vehicles, one of which had been bought only a week before.
The BMW - which was fitted with a tracker - and Nissan were stolen but police managed to trace the vehicles later the same day to a street in Easington, with Lee being arrested at the scene. On Wednesday, Lee, of Fairbairn Road, Peterlee, appeared at Durham Crown Court via link from HMP Durham to be sentenced for two counts of burglary, two counts of theft and one count of attempted burglary. He pleaded guilty to the charges at the hearing.
