Teenager jailed after burgling neighbour and stealing their car

Handing Gerard Mark Clarke a three-and-a-half year sentence and banning him from driving for five years, Judge Gordon Kerr told him: “You have to realise that with your driving history, some day the chances are that you may well have a serious accident and kill somebody, or at least seriously injure them.”

Clarke, whose address was given as Hydebank YOC, will spend half his sentence in custody with the remaining 21 months spent on supervised licence, after he pleaded guilty to five offences.

He came before Belfast Crown Court with 44 previous convictions.

Crown prosecutor David McClean said that between 10.30am and 11.25am on April 28 last year, a house at Castleton Gardens was broken into.

The burglar gained entry by kicking in a wooden panel at the back door of the house, and whilst the occupant was asleep upstairs, a number of items were stolen.

These items included an iMac computer worth around £1,000, a Volkswagen Golf and £100 in cash which was in a jar in the kitchen.

Mr McClean said that when the scene underwent a forensic examination, Clarke’s fingerprints were located on the jar. The prosecutor also revealed that at the time of the break-in, Clarke was living in the house opposite.

Later on the evening of April 28, at around 8.45pm, the stolen Golf was seen by police driving on the Donegall Road. Police gave chase and activated sirens and flashing lights.

Clarke, who was driving the stolen vehicle, was seen driving dangerously in various roads and streets in the area. On two separate occasions, the Golf rammed a police vehicle, while during the incident Clarke at times drove the wrong way, causing other motorists to take evasive action to avoid a collision.

The Golf finally came to a stop on the Springfield Road, where Clarke abandoned the vehicle and ran into a house. He then scaled a fence out the back, and when a dog handler was brought to the area, Clarke was apprehended hiding in a shed at a nearby house.

Mr McClean told the court the damage to the stolen vehicle was “extensive”, while a police officer sustained soft tissue injuries as a result of Clarke ramming the PSNI vehicle.

Defence barrister Luke Curran said Clarke’s case was a “sorry tale” of a young man aged 19 who has spent most of the past four years in custody.

Saying Clarke had ADHD and was “not without his difficulties”, Mr Curran said his young client’s “behaviour and attitude in general has improved significantly”, and that he was beginning to show signs of awareness regarding his offending.

Passing sentence, Judge Gordon Kerr branded Clarke’s record as “formidable”.