A burglar raided a couple’s home while they slept and drove off with the husband’s Land Rover, but was later caught due to a tracking device the victim had connected to his vehicle.

Michael Balog, 21, was on prison licence and wore an immigration tag at the time of the burglary at the semi-detached home on Eleanor Road, Harrogate, in the early hours of August 31.

He broke in while the couple were asleep upstairs and stole a purse, wallet and the keys to the husband’s Land Rover Discovery, said prosecutor Neil Coxon at York Crown Court today.

He said that Balog was on an electronic tag at the time due to “matters concerned with immigration”.

The named victim, who had parked his 17-plate Land Rover outside, woke up the following morning to find that the front door of the house was ajar and his car keys and wallet had disappeared. His wife’s purse or handbag, containing bank cards, had also gone, as had his Land Rover, worth “many thousands of pounds”.

Mr Coxon told the court:

The tracking app enabled police to find the car keys, which had been hidden behind a loose brick in a wall at Balog’s home.

Balog, originally from the Czech Republic, had removed the mortar from around the brick and slipped the car keys into the cavity “like a spy’s ‘dead letter drop’”, before “carefully” putting the brick back in place.

Balog was brought in for questioning but initially denied all allegations. He was charged with burglary and theft of the Land Rover and ultimately admitted both offences.

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Jailing Balog for 22 months, the judge told him:

Balog will serve half of that sentence behind bars before being released on prison licence.