Thief who stole £15,000 worth of designer watches and knife belonging to Ripon army veteran is spared jail

Lewis Morley, 23, broke into the victim’s cottage near Ripon and stole his collection of luxury watches including a Rolex Submariner worth £11,400, a £1,400 TAG timepiece, an Omega Seamaster worth £2,400 and a Michael Kors, York Crown Court heard.

But what was even more devastating for the named victim was that Morley and his sidekick also got away with his old army knife which had his surname and regimental number etched onto it.

Prosecutor Deborah Smithies said the victim was away on work in May 2021 when he received a call from his cleaner saying she had seen two men climbing out of a window at his home in leafy Pottery Lane, Littlethorpe.

The victim, a veteran of the conflict in Afghanistan, returned two days later and found a damaged window frame, a broken TV and items missing including an X-Box games console, a bottle of rum worth £56 and the military-style hunting knife with his name and army number on.

Ms Smithies said the keepsake was irreplaceable and of great sentimental value to the victim and that the thieves had even taken a kitchen knife.

The total value of all the stolen property was more than £16,000, but Morley claimed he was only responsible for the theft of three of the watches including the Rolex and the TAG which were worth about £15,000.

A week later, following a tip-off, police swooped on a house in Leeds where they found Morley and his cohort.

The stolen X-Box was found in the living room and the Omega watch was also later recovered.

However, it appeared that the other items had not been found.

Morley, of Clifton Avenue, Leeds, was arrested and charged with theft.

He admitted the offence and appeared for sentence via video link today after being remanded in custody.

In a statement read out in court, the victim said the whole incident was “very upsetting” and that his home “doesn’t feel my own any longer”.

He said he had left the army “with nothing and I worked hard to get where I am now which had enabled me to buy the watches”.

“The knife was one I had in the army,” he added.

“I took it on tour to Afghanistan – it was deeply sentimental and cannot be replaced.”

Ms Smithies said Morley had four previous convictions for offences including wounding, battery, criminal damage and failing to surrender.

His sidekick in the Ripon theft, who was named in court, had already received a two-month jail sentence for handling stolen goods.

Jane Cooper, mitigating, said that Morley had mental-health issues.

Judge Sean Morris, the Recorder of York, said he had to consider the long delay in the case reaching court.

Morley was given a four-month suspended prison sentence and 200 hours of unpaid work.