Two brothers have been jailed for a so-called “two-in- one” burglary of a house only a few streets from where they were living at the time.

Among items David and Daniel Ambler took from the property in Shiney Row, overnight on November 4/5, last year, was a set of keys to the car of the family living there, which was parked outside their home in Mons Crescent.

Newcastle Crown Court, sitting at the city's Moot Hall, was told the pair then drove off in the Nissan Pulsar, with older sibling David Ambler behind the wheel.

The Northern Echo: David, left, and Daniel Ambler jailed for burglary and car taking offences at Newcastle Crown

Oliver Connor, prosecuting, said the male householder at the targeted property awoke in the early hours of November 5 to discover the break-in and reported it to police, giving details of the car taken by the intruders.

It was seen by police being driven in a haphazard manner in the Hylton Lane area of Sunderland, at 3.30am that morning.

When the police driver did a “stop” of the stolen car, David Ambler, speaking in a slurred manner, asked him why they were following him.

He quickly pulled away, however, colliding with another vehicle in the process, but the badly damaged Pulsar was later found abandoned and both brothers were arrested nearby.

Some of the stolen goods taken from the house were found in nearby guttering, while David Ambler also had items in his pockets.

But a wallet taken was not recovered and the court heard that it must have been passed on, or sold to other criminally-minded people, as attempts to use a bank card it contained were being made at the same time the arrested brothers were being interviewed by police later that morning.

Mr Connor said the burgled property had been the victims’ home of 35 years, but they said they were now in fear of living there.

They indicated that some of the items stolen were of a “sentimental value”, including a family heirloom, and the total value came to about £13,000.

David Ambler, 26, and his 21-year-old sibling, both of Henry Street, Shiney Row, admitted burglary of a dwelling which included theft.

Further offences of theft of a motor vehicle, driving while disqualified and without insurance, were also admitted by David, while Daniel also pleaded guilty to being carried in a vehicle taken without consent.

The break-in conviction also made David Ambler a “third-strike” burglar, having previous offences on his record from 2018 and 2021, while was also serving a driving ban from February last year, at the time of the latest offence.

Daniel Ambler’s conviction, although his first for burglary, also put him in breach of two previous suspended prison sentences.

Judge Stephen Earl told both brothers: “To break into someone’s home at the dead of night while they are asleep is a despicable offence.”

He said it was aggravated in both cases by their previous convictions and the manner of David Ambler’s driving, while under the influence “of substances”.

The judge passed the standard 876-day sentence (two years and almost five months) on David Ambler as a three-strikes burglar, which is made up of a mandatory three-year sentence less 20-per cent in credit for his guilty plea.

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He was also banned from driving for two years from the point of his release midway through his sentence.

Daniel Ambler received a 27-month custodial sentence for the burglary, but the judge activated eight months of his previously suspended sentences, making a total term of incarceration of 35 months.

Both will also be liable to pay statutory court surcharges of £228 within 14 days of their release.