A MAN high on drugs could remember little of his early morning crime spree in North Wales where he burgled two houses and a garage and stole cars from the driveways.

In a matter of hours he had managed to write off two cars, including a stolen Lexus which he crashed through a fence into a field.

People were alarmed and rang the police when he was seen to be spinning the Lexus around the field as if he was trying to get out again.

Wesley Hardman, 29, of Lydstep, Warrington, was jailed for three years at Mold Crown Court.

He admitted three burglaries in the early hours of Sunday, September 18, at Chester Road, Oakenholt; Sandy Lane in Bagillt and Llys yr Eos in Abergele.

Prosecutor Emmalyne Downing told how a 61-year-old man living alone in Abergele did now know that his Astra car had been taken off the drive – and the keys taken from his home together with £400 cash – while he slept, until the police contacted him at 4am.

But residents at Bagillt Road in Greenfield had been woken up by the sound of screeching tyres after the car crashed into a roundabout. They found the vehicle badly damaged and Hardman in a panic. He asked for directions to Chester and got a bicycle out of the boot and rode off.

At Bagillt, he burgled a house and took the keys to a £17,000 Lexus which the owner had bought a few weeks earlier.

Police contacted the owner at 6 am and asked if his Lexus was still there? He looked out, realised it was gone, together with other property including the key fob in a burglary at his home.

His Mercedes had been damaged in the garage and his golf clubs had been put in the boot.

Miss Downing said the police had been alerted by residents of Chester Road in Flint, where the Lexus had crashed through a fence into a field.

“He was still trying to drive it around in circles in the field in order to get back through the gap in the fence,” she said.

Extensive damage had been caused to the Lexus and also to a Clio parked nearby.

In Oakenholt a man was disturbed when his alarm went off and he later confronted the defendant who had been in his garage.

He was seen carrying a handbag, became abusive but left when told the police had been alerted.

Another witness said Hardman had asked him for a taxi number, he was suspicious and kept him talking until the police arrived and arrested him.

A blood test showed that when he was driving he had a number of drugs in his system including morphine, cocaine and diazepam.

Interviewed, he said he had travelled from Warrington to North Wales to see a friend, denied the offences and said cash on him was legitimate earnings. When finger print evidence was later put to him, he made no comment.

Hardman had previous convictions for 72 offences.

Graham Robinson, defending, said his client had a shocking record but there had been a significant gap in his offending when he was off the drugs and was working. But a relationship ran into difficulties, he went back onto the drugs after becoming depressed but he remembered very little “about the spree” he committed that morning.

He had shown genuine remorse and insight, was now drug free and was following various courses while in custody. Hardman appreciated what he had done had caused a lot of anguish to others.

Judge Niclas Parry said his case was awash with aggravating features.

“You came from outside the area and targeted high value vehicles which you stole during two dwelling house burglaries,” he said.

The burglaries were committed at night while people slept in their beds.

He had burgled a garage and caused considerable damage to the vehicles he took.

It was aggravated by his significant record including two previous attempted burglaries, and countless offences of theft and vehicle crime.