Country house burglar begins eight-year term

Michael Edward Kenny was arrested in Luton last Friday with the assistance of Bedfordshire Police.

Kenny, who is now 50, was found guilty in his absence by a jury at York Crown Court in November 2007 on six charges of burglary after he absconded in the middle of his trial.

Imposing an eight-year jail sentence, Judge Paul Hoffman said then it was plain Kenny had surveyed the premises he targeted in advance.

The jury heard that Kenny of Cliveden Close, Finchley in London, used his girlfriend’s home in Whitecross Road, York, as his base as he toured the area in a Mitsubishi car scouting for properties to plunder.

Among the houses he raided were South Park in Hutton Wandesley, near York, where he stole a £3,000 painting.

Kenny also targeted Setterington House, near Malton, where he netted an £11,560 haul of antiques, and also broke into Foston Hall, near Whitwell-on-the-Hill, where he got away with paintings, fine art and antiques valued at a total of £7,500.

Kenny, originally from Hartlepool, appeared yesterday at York Crown Court accused of failing to answer his bail in 2007. The Recorder of York, Judge Stephen Ashurst, agreed to adjourn the hearing until today for him to get legal representation, but told him he must start serving his original sentence.

Kenny could face up to an additional 12 months in jail if he is found to have failed to attend in 2007 without reasonable excuse.