Woman caught red-handed burgling neighbour duped police and was left to hold on
Kaylee McIntyre duped officers into believing she was staying at a friend’s house across the road when she was actually burgling her neighbour’s flat in Gateshead, Newcastle Crown Court heard
A woman caught red-handed burgling her neighbour’s home managed to fool police into thinking it was her mate’s place and was allowed to carry on ransacking it. Kaylee McIntyre had been going back and forth to the woman’s flat in Gateshead when officers turned up to check on an earlier incident.
After spinning them a web of lies about her activities, the audacious McIntyre resumed her crime spree once they departed, breaking into the other woman’s home five times and making off with items valued at over £1,000.
Newcastle Crown Court was told that in the early hours of April 26 2023, the victim had popped out to purchase alcohol from a nearby petrol station. Expecting to be back shortly, she didn’t bother securing her flat on Wetheral Gardens, Low Fell, reports Chronicle Live.
A couple of hours beforehand, police had visited McIntyre’s residence across the street following a domestic disturbance. They had removed her from the scene and dropped her at a relative’s house in Lobley Hill.
However the 30-year-old then made her way back towards her home and, around the time her neighbour had departed for the garage, McIntyre tried unsuccessfully to get back into her own property.
She then crossed the road to the victim’s flat, which she discovered was unlocked, and began helping herself to belongings. Shortly afterwards, police returned in connection with their earlier visit.
Antonia Adie, prosecuting, said: “They were unaware of the burglary that was effectively taking place. Officers made it clear she couldn’t go back to her flat.
“It was noted she had a bag with a games controller on it. She told the officer she could stay at her friend’s address across the road.
“What she had not told them was the friend was not a friend and she was actually entering as a trespasser.
“The officer didn’t think anything of it and the police left the scene. Unfazed by their attendance, she finished what she had started and made further trips to and from the address.
“She made no fewer than five trips to and from the complainant’s flat.”
The victim subsequently returned home to discover she had been burgled. McIntyre had nicked a television, an Alexa device, a PlayStation 4 and two controllers, two vases and a jewellery box containing earrings, a passport and a spare house key.
The haul was valued at up to £1,370 and none of it was recovered. The victim said the break-in had left her emotionally and mentally scarred, disturbed by the thought of an intruder prowling through her home.
McIntyre, who has 16 previous convictions including nine for theft, admitted burglary. She received a nine-month sentence suspended for 12 months and must pay £200 compensation due to her limited financial means.
Recorder Caroline Sellars told her: “Unbelievably, you told the police you were attending at your friend’s house. The police were completely unaware of what was happening and left.
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