A BURGLAR has been jailed for the theft of a quad bike in which his accomplice was killed.

Details of the tragedy were given as two members of a travelling crime gang were sentenced for stealing the £4,500 machine.

David Young, 39, from Bishop Auckland, lost control of it, crashed and was then run over by an oncoming Audi A5.

An inquest later heard he sustained fatal head and neck injuries while travelling on the A689 near Killhope.

Gerard Rogerson, prosecuting at Carlisle Crown Court, said: “He was travelling without lights, no helmet and as fast as the vehicle could go.”

Th court heard how a farmer in Alston was alerted to a burglary at his premises by members of a Facebook ‘Farmwatch’ group at 9pm on January 6, 2020.

He found the gates at his farm open, chains and padlocks snapped, and a red Honda quad bike missing.

Eyewitnesses reported seeing it being driven towards County Durham with two vans following before the fatal crash.

One burglar, Keiron Heslop, 29, of Denton, Darlington, was traced several days later after officers learned one of the vans was registered to him.

Accomplice Shaun Arthur Murray, 43, presented himself to a police station.

Messages had been exchanged between Heslop and Mr Young in the days before the burglary.

These spoke of going out ‘for some bikes’, with Heslop also telling Mr Young: “We’re going all out lad.”

In June 2021, Heslop also took part in burglaries and thefts from a multi-unit industrial park at Redhills Lane, near Penrith.

Keys and two Ford Transit vans were stolen, while the cost of repairing substantial damage, changing locks and drafting in a security firm topped £10,000.

Heslop admitted burglary and theft in relation to the Penrith crimes, having got involved in a desperate bid to clear a cocaine debt amid intimidation.

He and Murray, of Hill Terrace, Billy Row, Crook, both pleaded guilty to burgling the Alston farm.

Heslop’s barrister, Richard Herrman, said of Mr Young’s death: “It developed into the most shocking and tragic event imaginable.

“David Young was married with children.

“The responsibility fell to Keiron Heslop to go to his family and tell them about what happened that night.”

Recorder Philip Grundy jailed Heslop for 23 months, and suspended Murray’s eight-month prison sentence for a year.

Murray must also complete a rehabilitation requirement, and a ten-week electronically monitored night time curfew.

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