Plymouth ‘career criminal’ with over 100 offences to his name jailed again

A man who was described by a judge as a "career criminal" with a slew of offences to his name has been jailed yet again. Darren Carter Moore, now aged 37 and of Pendeen Crescent appeared at Plymouth Crown Court via video link to HMP Exeter where he was being held on recall. Prosecutor Holly Rust told the court Carter-Moore had pleaded guilty to three offences of burglary of a house, aggravated vehicle taking and burglary of a non-dwelling which all took place on May 29 last year.

Ms Rust explained that a female occupant of a property in Riverside Place, Devonport[1] was awoken in the early hours by the family dog growling. She next heard the distinctive sound of her husband's white Audi A4 engine revving and on investigation found the keys were missing and the car roaring off down the road.

Her husband later discovered that his iPhone and a set of house keys had been taken from a table inside the property and in a statement to police the wife said she felt "sick" to know that someone had been in her home, stealing while her family slept. At around 2.40am police spotted the car being driven erratically on the A38[2] between Liskeard and Dobwall.

They began to follow the vehicle but the driver evidently realised they were being followed and accellerated. Ms Rust showed the court dashcam from the police vehicle showing the Audi travelling at speeds of up to 120mph it an attempt to avoid capture. Ms Rust noted that at the time the roads were slick with rain and the car was moving from lane to lane, at one point slowing to around 64mph to make a U-turn, boucing over a central reservation.

The car continued to speed up at excessive speeds before driving right over the roundabout at Twelvewoods at high speed, crashing over gorse and grass before the two occupants decamped and fled the scene. The car was left a write off and in the passenger seat officer found a cap which belonged to Darren Carter-Moore However the court heard that DNA tests of the steering wheel could not determine who was driving at the time.

A short while later Carter-Moore and another person was caught on CCTV inside the Tiflex business unit near Doublebois taking a boiler suit. They were found by a member of staff and escorted out. The following morning staff found that a padlock had been damaged and a safe moved from an office and broken into and a digital camera stolen.

Carter-Moore was arrested after being identified from the footage but answered 'no comment' to all questions when interviewed. Mr Rust said Carter-Moore had 44 convictions for 109 offences including for dwelling burglaries, non-dwelling burglaries, aggravated vehicle taking, theft and handling stolen goods. She said he had a number of driving convictions and three convictions for dangerous driving in 2010, 2014 and 2019.

During the 2019 incident Carter-Moore was stopped in a stolen Volkswagen Transporter and Tasered by officers during his arrest[3] after he rammed a police car and an ambulance. The VW Transporter was written off and police later said the owner of the van died before the case came to court.

Ms Rust told the court Carter-Moore was on licence at the time of these latest offences and was immediately recalled to prison. In mitigation his advocate, Francesca Whebell, said Carter-Moore had long struggled with a "variety" of addictions and at that time had not had his script so instead turned to street drugs to satisfy his cravings, which in turn saw him fall back into his past ways.

Carter-Moore was given opportunity to read from a character reference from HMP Exeter's drugs co-ordinator who noted that the 37-year-old was now stable on a prescription and was "very motivated" and had completed a number of workbooks and certificates.

Judge Robert Linford said he noted Carter Moore's claim that he was not driving and the Crown's admission that they were unable to prove who was driving during the high-speed police chase. Sentencing Carter-Moore, Judge Linford said the car was clearly being driven "extremely dangerously" but he would not sentence him for it as the prosecution could not say who was responsible. He said it was, however, clear from Carter-Moore's offending history that he was "a career criminal - that's the only way to describe you - you've 44 convictions for many, many, many offences."

He took on board the previous convictions which were an aggravating factor, while his early guilty plea would see him receive credit of 25 percent off his sentence. He handed him three years for the domestic burglary, and six months for the aggravated vehicle taking, but this was to run consecutively. The commercial burglary would see him receive a nine month sentence, to run concurrently, totalling three years and six months.

He said Carter-Moore would be disqualified from driving for four and half years from the day of his sentence.

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References

1. ^ Devonport (www.plymouthherald.co.uk)
2. ^ A38 (www.plymouthherald.co.uk)
3. ^ Tasered by officers during his arrest (www.plymouthherald.co.uk)
4. ^ PlymouthLive is now on WhatsApp (chat.whatsapp.com)
5. ^ Privacy Notice (www.reachplc.com)
6. ^ Click here to join our WhatsApp community (chat.whatsapp.com)