Son stole £4,000 from father’s house in Normanton
A son who stole £4,000 from a safe at his father's home was told to leave the house and was later caught on CCTV after breaking in.
Cocaine addict Samuel Love was staying at the house in Normanton when he stole the cash from a safe in a wardrobe in his father's bedroom, Leeds Crown Court heard.
Prosecutor, Maleka Akuany said the theft happened between September 18 and 23 when Love’s father and his younger brother had been away.
Miss Akuany said after he discovered the theft Love's father told him he was no longer welcome at the house. He asked Love to leave and changed the locks.
The father set up cameras in his bedroom and moved cash from the safe.
At around 10.30am on October 5 the camera picked up movement in the bedroom which activated a mobile phone app on the father's phone.
Miss Akuany said the father checked the camera footage and saw Love in the bedroom and contacted police and his younger son.
The younger son went to the house and found a ladder propped up against the first floor bedroom window.
The court heard Love was leaning out of the window and shouting at his younger brother.
The brother went in the house and saw Love on the landing stabbing at a mattress with a knife before leaving via the first floor bedroom window.
Love, 24, of no fixed abode, admitted theft of the £4,000 and burglary with intent to steal.
In November 2023 he was sentenced to a 20 month prison sentence suspended for 20 months after being convicted of Possessing a Class A drug with intent to supply
Mollie Briggs, mitigating, said: “The offence was borne out of an addiction to cocaine."
Judge Richard Mansell told Love: "You were supposed to be looking after your father's property, not stealing it."
Judge Mansell sentenced Love to a 20 month prison sentence, suspended for two years.
Love will be subject to a six month drug rehabilitation requirement.
A two year restraining order was imposed which bans Love from entering the street where his father lives.