A member of a gang spotted wheeling away a safe in broad daylight has been jailed.
The three men were disturbed inside offices in central Middlesbrough in mid-afternoon as they dragged it on a small trolley to a waiting car.
A woman from another office in the building challenged them and they told her that they were looking for the way out.
She told police, who arrested Michael Cronin, that they seemed to be under the influence of drink or drugs.
Prosecutor Paul Newcombe told Teesside Crown Court that the 45-year-old said they were disturbed on April 16 before they could put it into the boot of his car.
Mr Newcombe told the judge: “He has an appalling record for burglary since 1986.”
Cronin also had previous convictions for going equipped for burglary and possession of drugs including crack cocaine.
Mr Newcombe added: “There was a degree of planning and there was a gang which made it a category one offence.”
Kieron Rainey, defending, said that Cronin owed money to a drug dealer who had pressured him into committing the burglary.
He had a long-standing addiction to heroin and crack cocaine and he was told that he should go with others to the offices of student accommodation provider Campus Lifestyle on Borough Road.
Mr Rainey added: “He was in the grip of using quite a bit of crack cocaine at the time and he was not thinking clearly, but he has thought about it quite a lot since then.
“In October 1983 he was treated for an overdose and he has struggled for the past number of years.
“He is now with his partner and there have been no offences since April last year. He is on a Methadone reduction programme which is working for him.”
Judge Howard Crowson told Cronin: “This was a deliberately targeted burglary of commercial premises, directly or indirectly because of your drug habit.
“You have got a really bad record on and off for dishonesty.”
Cronin, of Amersham Road, Berwick Hills, was jailed for 18 months after he pleaded guilty to burglary.
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