The burglary of an outbuilding at Little Asby on October 27 last year ended disastrously for 36-year-old former soldier John Hall and his accomplice Daniel Hann, 28, after they were spotted by the quadbike’s owners.
Hann drove dangerously as he attempted to outrun the police, at one point travelling the wrong way on the A66, Carlisle Crown Court heard.
The Durham based defendants denied wrongdoing.
But after a trial before the city’s magistrates’ court, they were convicted of the burglary while Hann was also found guilty of dangerous driving.
The couple who were the victims were returning home in darkness when they spotted somebody riding their quad bike past them along the lane from their property, the court heard.
They briefly followed the van, having seen the quad bike through the slightly open rear doors. They estimated its speed to at one point to have reached 90mph as it headed towards Raisbeck.
Police were alerted and a short time later officers on patrol spotted the Vauxhall van on the A685, heading towards Kirkby Stephen.
Activating their lights and siren, they began pursuing it.
Prosecutor Gerard Rogerson said the driver crossed solid white lines, and at times drove towards oncoming traffic.
Police saw the van slow briefly before Hall “fell out” of the van’s passenger door and then walked away. He was later found – muddy and wet – in the centre of Brough, where he claimed he had visited local pubs.
Police checked with the local pubs and there was no evidence of this.
The van eventually turned on to the A66 slip road, but then suddenly performed a U-turn, before driving along the slip road in the wrong direction, said Mr Rogerson.
Liam O’Brien, for Hall, from Hetton, County Durham, said he had seen Army service in Afghanistan but was medically discharged, having been emotionally affected by some of the things he had witnessed there.
He had turned to abusing drugs.
“He doesn’t use that as an excuse,” said Mr O’Brien. “But he is now using his time well and hopes to be rehabilitated.”
Sophie Allinson-Howells, for Hann, Bede Terrace, Bowburn, Durham, said there was no confrontation involved in the burglary, and she argued that the planning involved was not significant.
Both defendants have numerous previous convictions. Hann’s record includes a previous burglary and a robbery.
Judge Michael Fanning said: “This is obviously targeted offending, involving significant planning. It was a remote part of Cumbria and is particularly far from local police stations…
“It is a hill farming area.”
Hall was jailed for two years and six months, while Hann was given three years and nine months jail. He was also given a 12-month driving ban, extended by 22 months to reflect the time he will spend in custody.
He will not be able to drive independently again until he has passed an extended driving test.
