A PRINCE’S Trust award winner who acted as a burglary lookout has been spared jail.

Ricky Ingram, of Hythes Hill, Colchester, helped two friends carry out a house burglary, which involved stealing car keys and driving away a couple’s Chrysler vehicle.

Ingram was seen by police in the stolen vehicle after the break-in, in Canterbury Road, Colchester.

The court heard the 21-year-old was given three packets of cigarettes, a small jewellery box containing an earring and a few pounds for being the look-out. The two other culprits were not caught.

Richard Stevens, prosecuting, said the woman at the house had not secured the French window properly and woke to discover the burglary after hearing a noise.

Items worth £4,000 were taken.

Recorder Neil Garnham QC sentenced Ingram, who admitted burglary and taking a vehicle without consent, to 200 hours unpaid work and gave him a 12-month jail sentence suspended for two years.

He was also ordered to attend education and employment training for ten days and pay £150 compensation to the victims of the theft.

Mr Garnham said: “You have come within a whisker of a custodial sentence. This offence is a very serious one, a singularly unpleasant offence.

“What the victims discovered the next day must have been disturbing in the extreme.”

Emma Nash, Ingram’s lawyer, told the judge about Ingram’s background involving numerous children’s and foster homes, as well as a variety of schools.

She said the court appearance had served as “a wake-up call”.

Miss Nash said Ingram had been walking home with two friends, who were trying car doors and house doors, before the offences were committed.

She said it had not been a planned burglary.