Jail time for 'habitual and practised' criminals who stole caravan in Sheffield and inflicted 'misery' on family

The offending of 41-year-old Dominic Hunt and Scott Seville, aged 48, was brought to the attention of Sheffield police officers when they observed them towing a caravan with a Honda vehicle at around 1.45am on February 12, 2021, arousing the officers’ suspicions.

During an August 9 hearing, prosecutor Brian Outhwaite told Sheffield Crown Court that Hunt was seen to be the driver, while Seville was a passenger.

"It [the caravan] was covered in filth and mud and the caravan door had been dented and damaged and remained insecure. They were obvious signs the caravan had been broken into,” Mr Outhwaite said.

The court heard how the pair were stopped and arrested at the scene, and during examination of the caravan, a Velux window and tools were found inside.

Mr Outhwaite said the caravan, worth an estimated £18,000, had been stolen from the Moorview Driving Range in Bradway, Sheffield, and some of the items found inside had been stolen from another caravan being stored on the site.

In a statement read out in court, the owner of the stolen caravan said the theft of the vehicle had caused him ‘stress and anxiety’; and he had taken the decision to sell it after finding it difficult to find a company willing to insure it.

The man said this was going to have a detrimental impact on his family, adding that he had not told his children what had happened to their caravan because he was concerned it would scare them.

Referring to the impact on the owner’s family, The Recorder of Sheffield, Judge Jeremy Richardson QC, told Hunt and Seville: “You have caused misery to the owner of the caravan and others.”

He added: “For the last two-and-a-half years, you will know that this country – in common with many other countries around the world – has been in the the throes of the pandemic, with people unable to take a holiday.

"People in caravans, eventually in 2021, were hoping for the best, to enjoy themselves with their families on holiday. In this particular case, their hopes of taking a caravan holiday, undoubtedly well-deserved after a dreadful year – which everyone endured during the pandemic – were dashed because of your conduct.”

Mr Outhwaite said Hunt and Seville have previously asserted they were acting under the direction of other criminals, with whom they were captured on CCTV at the site of the theft – but have not named, which has been accepted by the prosecution.

At the time of the offence, Judge Richardson said the pair were living a ‘perfectly wretched existence’.

"You were vagrants, you were begging, you were homeless, you were penniless,” Judge Richardson told Hunt and Seville, adding that the circumstances of their ‘baleful’ lives meant they were ‘ripe for exploitation’.

He described the pair as ‘habitual and practised criminals’ with a record that spans ‘pages and pages’.

Mr Outhwaite told the court that Hunt has an extensive criminal record of some 91 offences from 50 convictions for crimes including theft and violence, while Seville has 30 convictions for 51 offences including possessing heroin.

Hunt and Seville, both of Parliament Street, Derby, pleaded guilty to theft at an earlier hearing.

Defending Seville, Dale Harris said that neither defendant were the ‘controlling hands’ in the ‘organised theft’ of the caravan, adding the pair had merely agreed to drive the stolen caravan for a ‘pittance’ of £150.

Simon Stevens, representing Hunt, said his client was taken into care aged four, left the system at the age of 16 and ‘shortly after’ developed an addiction to opioids which has plagued him for years.

Mr Stevens said that in the 18 months since the offending took place, Hunt has gained stable accommodation, which he shares with Seville, and is now being assisted in his drug rehabilitation by a support worker.

Judge Richardson sentenced Seville and Hunt to six months’ custody.

He told them: “It must be understood that individuals like you, with all the disadvantages that each of you have, can exercise judgement whether to commit a crime or not.”