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Stephen Baker, of Springfield Road in Erith, jailed for conspiring to commit burglaries in The Greenways Paddock Wood and Station Road, Longfield

A mechanic has been jailed for three and a half years for using a car he should have been working on to commit crime.

Stephen Baker, of Springfield Road in Erith, pleaded guilty to two charges of conspiracy to commit burglary at Maidstone Crown Court on Tuesday, November 25.

The 27-year-old initially denied the charges but changed his plea late.

Stephen Baker
Stephen Baker

In October last year Baker was asked to carry out some repair work on a Vauxhall Astra by the manager of a garage.

He took it home and used it to commit crime.

The first offence saw an Audi S4 with a laptop inside stolen from outside a house in The Greenways, Paddock Wood.

The front door of the house had been damaged to allow burglars to break in and steal the car key.

That same night intruders breaking into the Co-Op store in Station Road, Longfield were captured on CCTV stealing £7,000 worth of cigarettes.

Police were called by a member of the public who said they saw people acting suspiciously while unloading items from a car outside a house in St Mary’s Road, Swanley.

The Vauxhall Astra was also parked outside.

When officers searched the house in St Mary’s Road they found clothing which appeared to match the clothing worn by the cigarette thieves caught on CCTV.

They then found the stolen laptop hidden in the back garden. The stolen Audi was then located less than a mile away.

Automatic Number Plate Recognition cameras showed the Astra, which Baker had no reason to be driving, travelling behind the stolen Audi, near Sevenoaks that same night.

Detective Constable James Crouch from the Kent and Essex Serious Crime Directorate said: “Burglary remains one of Kent Police’s top priorities, so we’re delighted to see another offender behind bars.”

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