Overview
- CCTV shows Andrew Pickering, 50, entering a petrol station in Ouston via the roof on October 21 and crashing to the floor four times while trying to escape before exiting through a door.
- The raid caused about £3,219 in loss and damage, and a forensic examination found significant blood at the scene that was later confirmed to be Pickering’s.
- Pickering pleaded guilty to two counts of burglary and was sentenced last week to 12 months in prison at Newton Aycliffe Magistrates' Court.
- Accomplice Daniel Reay, 46, of no fixed address, was arrested shortly after the incident, with a black Ford Focus containing stolen goods recovered, and he received a community order with alcohol treatment and rehabilitation requirements.
- Durham Police posted edited CCTV and interview clips set to Strauss’s Blue Danube, drawing roughly 607,000 views on Facebook and 23,000 on YouTube in a day.