Drunken ex-bank worker who stole CCTV camera from his neighbour was caught after it continued broadcasting images to her from his bedroom

A drunken ex-bank worker who stole a CCTV camera from his neighbour was caught after it continued broadcasting footage from inside his bedroom. 

Gavin Pollard, 49, broke into the home using a copied key in September last year. CCTV footage caught him rummaging through his neighbours kitchen before leaving with the camera and £15 from her purse. 

Pollard had lived with his aunt on Welby Road in Asfordby Hill, Leicestershire, since he was made redundant from his job in banking in 2015. She was good friends with her next-door neighbour for 50 years and had a key to her home. 

After he left with the stolen possessions the CCTV camera was still connected to the neighbours WiFi and the neighbour immediately recognised Pollard. 

Leicester Crown Court heard on Tuesday how Pollard, who now lives in Melton, had no recollection of the burglary. 

The woman, who has difficulty hearing, had got the CCTV camera after £150 had been taken from her home, which was money left to pay the carers who visit her two times a day.

Pollard, who is not accused of the earlier burglary, was seen on the footage from the second burglary shining a torch around the kitchen as he searched before taking the cash and grabbing the camera. 

The signal continued to send the footage back to the pensioner's home as Pollard took it to his bedroom at his aunt's house and the 96-  year-old victim recognised her friend's son, who she had known for about 25 years.

Leicestershire Police went to arrest Pollard three days later and recovered the £15 cash and the copied key but the camera, worth £44, was never found. 

Pollard was interviewed and denied the burglary, claiming the copied key was actually a key to his own home.

He later pleaded guilty to dwelling burglary with theft. 

Helen Johnson, representing Pollard, told the court: 'This is an unusual set of circumstances. He drinks at night and he drinks to excess.

'The act itself is bizarre. He cannot come to terms with what he has done. She is a vulnerable person who never showed him anything but care.'

She said that after 20 years working in banking Pollard was made redundant and took an access course so that he could get a university degree.

But then the Covid pandemic began and he turned to alcohol abuse as his mental health deteriorated.

She said his behaviour was also partly due to the fact that Pollard was the victim of sexual abuse in his teenage years and 'people who have been sexually abused do react in different ways'. She asked the judge, Recorder Jacob Hallam KC, to suspend the inevitable prison sentence.

The judge said he wanted to know more about Pollard's mental problems and adjourned the sentencing for eight weeks so that a psychiatrist could speak to Pollard and write a report.

Pollard is due to be sentenced on Tuesday, July 23.