Stockton burglar ordered to pay thousands in compensation to Hartlepool caravan park after cigarettes and alcohol raid

Alcoholic Aaron Gee, 42, stole cigarettes and spirits worth £5,222 when he smashed through the flat roof of the NISA store, on the Crimdon Dene Holiday Park, near Hartlepool.

He left behind his blood DNA at the one-metre hole which was traced to his record of 18 convictions for 43 offences.

The store was run by a mother and daughter who were not insured for their franchised business when Gee raided it on 6 November 6, 2021, said prosecutor Ellen Wright at Teesside Crown Court.

When the daughter opened up on November 7 she found that the locked cigarette cabinet had been smashed and almost emptied and many bottles of spirits were missing.

Outside the store were plastic bags with some of the stolen stock.

Forensic experts found the bloodstains on the roof and some footprints on the ground which also matched Gee.

Gary Wood, defending, said in mitigation that Gee had been offered a job by a rendering firm and was able to pay compensation.

Judge Jonathan Carroll ordered him to pay £2,500.

Gee, formerly of Hartlepool and now of Bishopton Road, Stockton, was also given an eight-month jail sentence, which was suspended for two years, 250 hours of unpaid work, 30 days of rehabilitation activities and 120 days alcohol abstinence after he pleaded guilty to the burglary.

The judge told him the compensation was an “integral part” of the sentence and he would be brought back to court if he did not pay up.