Burglar left tradesmen unable to work when he stole £9,000 of tools from a Sunderland site

Tradesmen were left unable to work when John Wheelan took their equipment which had been left in the properties over the weekend last September.

Newcastle Crown Court some workers were left "thousands of pounds" out of pocket by the loss of the tools which were needed for their trade.

Prosecutor Helen Towers told the court the flats at Azalea Terrace North in Sunderland were being refurbished by JWF Building Solutions and the employers secured their tools inside the flats for the weekend on September 20.

When they returned to work on September 23 they discovered the buildings had been raided and some had been caused damage to windows.

One of the tradesmen said: "I need to find more than £3,000 to replace equipment to continue working. My wife recently had a stroke and due to this she can't work.

"I need to work out a way to make a living."

Another worker said: "Lots of the tools stolen were bought by my daughter. It is not cheap stuff.

"For days we had to stop work as we didn't have our tools.

"Some lads are out of pocket by thousands of pounds."

Another tradesman said: "This is our livelihood and these people have ruined it."

Prosecutor Sue Hirst told the court: "There was a significant degree of loss".

Wheelan, of no fixed address, who was living near the properties at the time and has over 100 previous convictions, pleaded guilty to six offences of burglary.

The court heard £2,997 worth of tools were recovered by the police and returned to the owners but over £6,000 worth were never found.

Wheelan, who has spent two months in custody and was on an electronic curfew before that, has been sentenced to a community order for 18 months with rehabilitation requirements.

Judge Robert Spragg told him: "The public are likely to benefit more from an attempt to rehabilitate you rather than leaving you in custody for what would be a short period of time, given the guidelines."

Sue Hirst, defending, said Wheelan has a history of mental health problems, which had been made worse at the time of the offences due to the breakdown of his long term relationship.

Miss Hirst added: "He self medicated with alcohol and diazepam and as a consequence of that he has very little recollection of committing the offences.

"He does regret his actions."

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