AN ALERT Castle Howard employee ended a disabled tourist’s long weekend of crime in stately houses when he spotted the visitor in an out-of-bounds area, York Crown Court heard.

Assistant caretaker David Phillips stopped Andrew Shannon, 45, getting away with a laptop bag containing stolen watercolours and other items.

His call to police sparked off international co-operation, that led within hours to Garda officers in Ireland stopping the thief’s accomplice driving away from a ferry in a car loaded with loot from country mansions.

The two Irishmen had spent Friday to Sunday touring England and posing as visitors at Blenheim Palace, Chatsworth House and Belvoir Castle, among other stately homes.

“Rather than visiting them with an historical object as innocent tourists, they had a rather different aim in mind – a long weekend of crime,” said David Brooke for the Crown Prosecution Service. “They stole whatever they could lay their hands on.” Shannon, of Dublin, pleaded guilty to six burglaries at stately homes, including Castle Howard. Altogether, he admitted stealing property worth £4,570.

Jailing him for three years, Recorder Deborah Sherwin said he had deliberately targeted the vulnerability of stately homes, which in some cases had to open to the public to fund their maintenance, but did not have sophisticated security systems.

Mr Brookes said CCTV revealed the burglars’ car arriving in the UK from the Irish ferry at 10.53am on Friday, July 31. At 3pm on Sunday, August 3, it drove into Castle Howard. Its satellite navigation had been programmed to include motels where the pair had stayed and Blenheim Palace, Chatsworth House, Belvoir Castle, Ragley Hall in Warwickshire and the National Trust-owned Coughton Court in Warwickshire.

For Shannon, Taryn Turner said the father-of-three was short of money as he lived on disability benefits following a road accident and had seen the trip as a chance to raise funds.


Aristocratic targets

• Castle Howard, North Yorkshire: Home to the Howard family.

Stolen: Two watercolour paintings, a picture, books, a vase, porcelain ornaments and two ornamental lions on marble bases.

• Chatsworth House, Derbyshire: Home to the Duke of Devonshire.

Stolen: A book.

• Belvoir Castle, Leicestershire: Home to the Duke of Rutland.

Stolen: Books.

• Coughton Court, Warwickshire: Owned by the National Trust.

Stolen: A walking stick.

• Ragley Hall, Warwickshire: Home to the Marquis of Hertford.

Stolen: Porcelain plates.

• Blenheim Palace, Oxfordshire: Home to the Churchill family.

Stolen: Figurines.