Burglars trapped by sale of rugby ace’s property

The wife of the former Australian captain found nothing wrong at 2.30am on February 19 when she got up to feed their new baby son but when she got up again at 6am she discovered dirty footprints on the lounge carpet and kitchen floor.

Richard Walters, prosecuting, told Leeds Crown Court yesterday she realised intruders had been into their home in Roundhay, Leeds and among the items missing were two platinum rings worth £15,000, her £400 Mark Jacobs bag, a laptop, an iPhone, a camera, identification documents and passports.

Mr Walters said during the same night burglars Christopher Holroyd and Jason Swires had gone round to a friend’s home telling her they had done “a job”. She saw them looking at pictures of a family on a laptop and phone, and following publicity about the burglary which named the RL player, she realised that was whom she had seen and gave police a statement.

Subsequently Holroyd’s girlfriend Sharon Alderson sold the two rings to a jewellers in Leeds for £1,265 receiving £165 from the deal, but after police had circulated the description of the missing items she was traced back from the jewellers having given her own ID.

Mr Walters said she had received a community order and ordered to perform 150 hours of unpaid work for handling the items.

The laptop containing sentimental photographs and the rings, which were Mrs Buderus’s engagement and wedding rings, were recovered but the burglary had left the family anxious, particularly when he had games away from home.

The court heard Swires and Holroyd, who both had extensive criminal records, also carried out two burglaries at a newsagents and post office in Street Lane after taking a man’s Saab car to use for transport on both occasions.

The first time on February 14 they used a spade and an ornamental heron to smash their way in through a glass panel at McColl’s, shoving all the cigarettes behind the counter into a bag.

Although their faces were covered, Swires scarf slipped at one point and his face was captured on CCTV and later recognised.

On March 2 they again broke into the same newsagents and plundered another £6,400 worth of cigarettes.

Swires, 36 of Bexley Place, Harehills and Holroyd, 39 of Armley Ridge Road, Armley, Leeds, admitted three burglaries and aggravated vehicle taking. Holroyd also admitted threatening revenge to a witness.

David Hall, for Swires, said the offences were committed to get money for drugs to which he was then addicted. They had not targeted a Leeds Rhinos player but were “garden creeping” when they came on the house and had no idea it was the home of a celebrity.