A man has been sentenced to seven and a half years in prison for his role in a series of burglaries, thefts, and criminal damage in Brighton and Hove, as well as for leading police on a dangerous car chase along the A23. Daniel Laverty, 33, of Maskelyn Close in Battersea, was arrested on January 15 after the stolen vehicle he was driving, a Kia Sportage, was located and pursued by officers along the A23. The car crashed at high speed and Laverty was arrested at the scene.
Despite being released on conditional bail while enquiries continued, Laverty and an accomplice embarked on a stealing spree across Brighton and Hove just two days later. The spree included damage and theft from a vehicle in Gordon Close, a burglary in Rutland Gardens during which a car was stolen, and another burglary at a property in Clermont Terrace. During one of the burglaries, the offenders were interrupted by a woman who chased them from her house while her two children and a friend slept upstairs. She was violently threatened.
Laverty was subsequently charged with multiple offences including two counts of burglary, three counts of theft, theft of a motor vehicle, dangerous driving, driving while disqualified, driving without insurance, theft from a motor vehicle, failing to provide a specimen for analysis, and possession of Class A drugs. He pleaded or was found guilty of all charges except one count of theft which was discontinued and entered as not guilty.
Throughout the trial at Hove Trial Centre on Wednesday 26 July, Laverty claimed to have no knowledge of any of the burglaries or vehicle thefts despite being captured on doorbell footage at the scene of one of the crimes. Detective Constable Josh Bellamy said: “Daniel Laverty hoped that a jury would believe his lies – that he was an innocent bystander in the wrong place at the wrong time, attempting to paint himself as just as helpless as his victims. I am pleased that those lies were not believed. He has been rightly convicted for what was a selfish spree targeting innocent people in their homes.”
