A BURGLARY victim told of the heartbreaking sight of his young child checking their front door was locked – a month after the family home was broken into and their car stolen from the drive.

Daniel Peachey had denied burgling the family’s home in Queen Emma’s Dyke, Witney, on May 23 – claiming that he’d taken a set of keys that had been left in the door.

But he was found guilty at the magistrates’ court in August of breaking into the house and swiping the keys to a BMW. The owner’s wife and children were asleep upstairs when Peachey broke in.

In a victim personal statement summarised to Oxford Crown Court on Thursday, the car’s owner said he had found his child downstairs in June ‘checking the locks were secure’.

“This is a horrible thing for a parent to find your child doing,” said prosecutor Robert Lindsey, summarising the man’s impact statement.

The stolen BMW was later seen on the forecourt of the petrol station in Welch Way, sporting a different registration number – with the plate apparently having been altered using a Sharpie marker pen.

A member of staff at the garage remembered Peachey saying his name was Dan or Dom and that he had acquired the car for his work in the Royal Air Force.

The stolen car was seen on Corn Street, Witney. When Peachey, who was wearing the same clothes as he had been seen sporting on the forecourt CCTV, was approached by the police he dropped a bag containing the BMW keys.

Two men he was with when he was arrested told the police that the defendant said he had the car ‘for his work in the army and arranged to pick them up’.

Found in the car was the owner’s wallet and a Sharpie pen that had apparently been used to doctor the plates.

In his first police interview, he put the blame on another man – who was spoken to by officers, but was able to show he had an alibi. Peachey went on to accuse the police of doctoring CCTV.

Peachey, of Corn Street, Witney, was convicted of burglary, taking a vehicle without consent and driving without insurance or a licence. He was on a community order at the time.

Sending him down for 18 months and imposing eight penalty points, Judge Maria Lamb said: “On May 23 of this year you went into somebody’s home. You may not have gone very far into that home but you went into a home in which people were sleeping.

“Among those who were sleeping there at that home was the wife and the child of the man who had to give witness evidence at your trial.

“I have read again and heard what’s been said in that victim personal statement.

“It’s not just the economic damage that’s done. It’s the very real emotional damage that’s done when somebody goes into [another’s] home.

“It’s the violation of their personal privacy and of their feelings of safety.”

Mitigating, Angela Porter had sought to persuade the judge to suspend any prison sentence. Her client had mental health issues and would ‘struggle’ in custody.

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This story was written by Tom Seaward. He joined the team in 2021 as Oxfordshire's court and crime reporter.  

To get in touch with him email: Tom.Seaward@newsquest.co.uk

Follow him on Twitter: @t_seaward