Tetbury burglar convicted after blood found on getaway car airbag (From Wilts and Gloucestershire Standard)

Crook who crashed Cotswold couple's 4x4 after raiding their home jailed for 27 months

2:32pm Sunday 20th January 2013 in News

A BURGLAR who crashed a Cotswold couple's BMW 4x4 into a field after raiding their home has been jailed for 27 months.

Timothy Moss, 36, was caught when his blood was found on the airbag of the overturned BMW X5 after a shocked farmer discovered it and raised the alarm.

Farmer Richard Clark had expected to find at least one dead body in the car because the damage was so extensive. The car was written off and the crash did £3,000 worth of damage to the farm wall and gate.

Jobless quarry worker Moss, 36, of Charlton Road, Tetbury, had denied burgling Ashley and Victoria Bodey's home at Trewsbury Lodge on the A433 near Tetbury on June 15 and stealing £30 and the BMW keys. He also denied aggravated taking of the car without consent.

But he was convicted of both charges at a trial at Gloucester crown court last month.

On Friday Judge William Hart jailed him for 15 months for the burglary and 12 months consecutively for the aggravated vehicle taking saying there was 'overwhelming evidence' against him.

Moss was also banned from driving for three years as he had undoutedbly been 'significantly under the influence of drink' at the time, the judge said.

Jason Coulter, defending, said Moss belatedly accepted his guilt and that it was a shame he had not done so earlier.

After a night out in Cirencester Moss had tried to walk home to Tetbury.

“There was no plan to do what he did,” Mr Coulter said. “But he comes across the property, spots the car and does an opportunist burglary. There was not a great deal of ransacking of the house - he was just interested in the keys to the car to get himself home.

He added that his client was lucky to have escaped serious injury following the crash.

"This whole incident has been very much a wake-up call for him,” Mr Coulter said. “He has made some not inconsiderable efforts to pull himself together and turn his life around."

During the trial, the jury was told Mrs Bodey heard the car alarm go off at 6am and initially thought it must be her husband outside until she heard the noise of it bein rammed through the locked gate.

Rushing downstairs she found the back door open and the car keys gone Farmer Mr Clark discovered the vehicle at 7.30am when he checked on his cattle.

Prosecutor Tim Hills said he investigated, expecting to find a body, and phoned police afterwards.

The police then heard that a man had checked himself into Cirencester Hospital with injuries. When they investigated they found it was Moss.

After being arrested he told police he had been drinking in Tetbury and had been knocked down as he tried to hitch a lift as he walked home.

When asked about the blood on the airbag he denied it could be his, said Mr Hills, but experts had confirmed it was a one in a billion chance that it was someone else's.