A card fraudster whose offending left one victim riding an ‘emotional rollercoaster’ has been jailed.
Daniel Hone, 31, began his two-month spree in May this year, when he used bank cards stolen in a burglary of a shared house to buy more than £60-worth of goods. The cards were used within an hour of the break-in.
The following month, overnight on June 10, a property in The Grates, Cowley, was broken into and various items stolen while the homeowners slept. Cards taken in the break-in were used to splurge on £404-worth of items.
On July 14, burglars raided a property in Abbey Road, in Oxford city centre. Hone denied involvement in the burglary, but admitted using cards stolen during the raid. More than £1,600 was spent on the couple’s bank cards. The victim described the impact of the break-in and frauds as an ‘emotional rollercoaster’.
His spree came to an end on July 20, when a police officer spotted him walking down the Cowley Road. Knowing he was wanted by the force, the constable stopped and searched him – finding wraps of crack cocaine and heroin.
Hone, of no fixed address, pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing to fraud by false representation, handling stolen goods and possession of class A drugs.
He also asked the judge to take into account another 20 similar offences.
The court heard Hone had 25 previous convictions. They included three lengthy jail spells for house burglary and a suspended sentence, imposed last year, for stealing sunglasses from an unlocked car.
In 2011, he received a three year prison sentence for causing actual bodily harm to a 19 month old baby. He left the child, who he was babysitting, with 28 separate injuries – including bite marks. At the time, the judge sentencing him said it was a ‘manifest injustice’ Hone had not been charged with the more serious crime of wounding.
Sentencing Hone for 22 months’ imprisonment on Friday, Judge Ian Pringle KC described the defendant as a ‘prolific thief’.
He said: “People who handle stolen goods when they are used very quickly after they’ve been stolen can expect to be dealt with on the basis that they are [highly culpable].
“I cannot ignore the fact that at the age of 31, you have no less than 25 convictions for 34 offences.”
In mitigation, Hone was said to have been looking after an unwell partner when he was last out of prison. However, his drug habit was ‘not being dealt with’.
Since his remand into custody, he had completed various courses to address his addictions.
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This story was written by Tom Seaward. He joined the team in 2021 as Oxfordshire's court and crime reporter.
To get in touch with him email: Tom.Seaward@newsquest.co.uk
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