A bungling raider who stole a car from an elderly couple’s Dundee home before reversing it into a pillar has been jailed for 17 months.
Terry Barr, 23, stole thousands of pounds worth of goods from the family’s home on Forfar Road and attempted his getaway in a car parked on the driveway, only to smash it into a post.
Barr, of Thurso Gardens, was jailed at the city’s sheriff court on Monday after also admitting thefts from the Overgate Centre.
The court heard Barr targeted the home of a married couple aged 81 and 85.
Depute fiscal Vicki Bell said on the evening in question their children were staying and the daughter was stirred from her sleep, believing someone had come in and out of her bedroom.
Ms Bell said: “She then heard a loud bang and when looking out of the front saw her parents’ motor vehicle had been reversed into a pillar.
“The vehicle had been driven down the driveway at speed and the driver had failed to negotiate correctly the exit causing it to crash at speed. The accused ran from the car.
“All of the bedrooms had been entered by the accused as the family slept and the car keys had been taken from the daughter’s bag in her bedroom.”
Barr had admitted breaking into a house on Forfar Road on August 3 and stealing two wallets containing a quantity of bank cards, personal papers and cash, two sets of car keys, two mobile phones, a laptop, digital photo frame, a vacuum cleaner, a television, an iPad and adaptor, six ornaments, two watches, a packet of medication and a £10 gift voucher.
He also admitted stealing a car, from the same place, while on bail.
Barr also admitted forcibly removing a security tag and attempting to steal a hooded top on June 6 at Superdry, Overgate Centre, and also admitted stealing a jacket, a quantity of clothing and a shirt, from River Island, Sports Direct and USC respectively, in the Overgate on June 14.
Barr’s solicitor John Boyle told the court his client had very little recollection of the offences.