Burglar who snuck into Newport university halls to steal student's car as she slept spared jail
A burglar who broke into a Newport university flat in the middle of the night and stole a student's car has avoided jail.
Dominic Eleftheriades, 22, snuck into the flat at Harper Adams University with an accomplice and swiped a set of Skoda Fabia car keys and a purse before driving off with the vehicle.
The keys to the car were taken from the kitchen table, and the student didn't discover what had happened until the following morning.
Prosecutor Kevin Jones told Shrewsbury Crown Court: "She was in possession of a courtesy car from a garage, which was parked outside.
"On the evening of May 6, 2018, she left her car keys and purse on the kitchen table when she went to bed.
"The next morning she went to get her cigarettes from where her keys were, but noticed they weren't there. She brushed it off, but later realised the car had been taken.
"She was able to watch CCTV from the campus and recognised one of the people on the footage. Police were able to establish that the defendant had been there.
"It showed him making his way in with another person and moving through the flat. CCTV also captured them getting into the car. He drove off."
The car was abandoned and found eight days later with damage to a window.
Eleftheriades, of Forge Way, Chester, pleaded guilty to burglary. He has had four convictions for five offences including shoplifting and a non-dwelling burglary.
Brendan Reedy, defending, said: "He had been at a party at another block of flats at the university. When he was interviewed by police he suggested he couldn't remember for the first ten minutes, before making a full confession."
He added that the relationship between Eleftheriades and his mother broke down a year earlier, and that he had started using cocaine and cannabis and getting into trouble.
Judge Anthony Lowe told Eleftheriades: "You flirt stupidly with criminal activity and this sort of behaviour will destroy your life if you are not careful."
He was sentenced to a community order for two years, 160 hours of unpaid work and ordered to pay £500 compensation to the victim. He was also told to pay £340 court costs.
