Teen jailed after admitting burglaries, fraud and driving offences

A teenage burglar has been jailed after admitting nearly 20 offences.

Josh Hutchinson’s first offence took place in Richmond Avenue, Sandiacre, on 8 August, 2020, where he broke into a house while its owners slept.

The 19-year-old stole cash, a pair of vintage duelling pistols, alcohol, a set of Chrysler car keys and a credit card.

The card was used and transactions amounting to around £800 were made on it at stores across Derby shortly after it was stolen. CCTV from one of the shops where the card was used showed Hutchinson driving a Vauxhall Vectra, which was displaying cloned number plates, and the same man was spotted on CCTV using a card stolen during a burglary in Leicestershire at the petrol station off Pentagon Island, Derby, on 16 August.

Two days later, on 18 August, a PSCO spotted Hutchinson driving a Renault Megane, which was also being driven on cloned plates.

A month later, on 22 September, he was again spotted behind the wheel by an officer in Wood Road, Derby. Hutchinson, this time driving a blue Ford Focus, drove off at speed as the officer turned his car in order to stop Hutchinson.

His run of offending was rounded off on 24 September when he burgled a house in Cavan Drive, Derby, stealing a laptop, phone and a number of bank cards. The cards were used shortly after – with a final payment of £9.85 at the Chilwell branch of McDonald’s at 5.11am.

Hutchinson, of no-fixed-abode, was finally arrested after he handed himself into police on 29 September 2020.

He was charged and remanded to prison before appearing at Derby Crown Court on 10 March, 2021, where he pleaded guilty to 11 counts of fraud by false representation, three counts of driving whilst disqualified, three counts of driving without insurance and two counts of burglary.

Following his guilty plea, he was sentenced to three years and 50 weeks in a youth offenders’ institution.

We’re currently sharing the work we do across our communities as part of Operation Derbyshire.

Operation Derbyshire runs until the end of May. It will see officers and staff sharing with our communities the excellent work that is going on to tackle certain crime types in the county.

Operation Derbyshire will also highlight the work that we and our partners do to support victims and bring offenders to justice.

You can follow our work on social media by following #OpDerbyshire.