A BURGLAR who forced his way into a business’ property to steal thousands of pounds worth of tools and equipment has been spared prison.

Thief Daniel Dobb, 35, was caught on CCTV raiding a business in Langham back in June 2020.

Chelmsford Crown Court heard tools which were typically kept within a fenced-off compound for safe-keeping were instead being stored in a padlocked shed.

Robin Griffiths, prosecuting, said: “The were put there ready for a job on the Monday morning, so the employees could get them easily, and take them wherever they were to go.

“[The victim] puts a value of approximately £9,500 on the tools and equipment that were taken.”

A police officer reviewed CCTV footage of the raid and was able to pick out and identify Dobb.

The court heard he was identified when he moved one of the cameras from its position overlooking the shed, turning it so it pointed at the floor.

The officer used distinctive ladders on the roof of a van spotted on CCTV to trace its movements on automatic number plate recognition cameras in Ipswich Road, Colchester.

A check on the van showed the insurance was held by Dobb, who had a Nottinghamshire address.

Dobb was interviewed under caution and confessed to the burglary, but claimed he had only stolen three items which he sold on “for a few hundred quid”.

He admitted a charge of burglary.

Eunice Opare-Addo, mitigating, said at the time of the offence Dobb had recently lost his terminally ill girlfriend to a heart condition.

She said: “He tells me he was not in the right frame of mind.”

She said since the offence, Dobb had gained honest employment and had begun to turn his life around.

Judge Mary Loram QC suspended a six-month prison sentence and ordered Dobb, of Milton Drive, Worksop, Nottinghamshire, to carry out 120 hours of unpaid work.

He must pay compensation for the damaged CCTV camera.

The court was told the cost of the stolen tools was covered by the victim’s insurance policy.

Judge Loram said: “When you steal from a small business, you stop someone else from making a legitimate living.

“You are affecting people who just want to make a legitimate living by hard work, unlike you who seem to think you can just take things belonging to other people.”