Promising rugby player burgled aunty's Leeds home for Rolex watches to clear £6,000 gambling debt

Leeds Crown Court heard that Charlie Costello had been on the books at Bradford Bulls but was forced out by a persistent shoulder injury. The 19-year-old ran up the debt and burgling the house was his “only way out”,.

The occupant of the home in East Leeds left her address on the afternoon of October 14 last year for around 45 minutes. On her return, she found a conservatory window had been smashed with a brick and someone had climbed through, prosecutor Verity Barnes said.

The victim found £700 in cash had been taken, along with a Rolex Submariner watch worth £12,500, a second Rolex worth £4,500, a Vivienne Westwood watch worth £200, a Louis Vuitton belt worth £500 and a Louis Vuitton scarf worth £500, among other items.

She checked CCTV and spotted the culprit leaving through the side gate and recognised him as Costello due to the way he walked. She rang Costello’s dad who confirmed he had been wearing the clothes she described in the footage.

Costello, of View Point, Town Street, Bramley, admitted the dwelling burglary. He told police that he had borrowed money for gambling and his family was threatened with violence.

He also admitted possession of a bladed article from September 2021 when he was found carrying a machete on a train in Sheffield. He has no previous convictions.

A pre-sentence report suggested Costello had got himself deeper into financial trouble after taking on the loan. He said he handed the stolen items directly over to the loan shark. The report suggested he expressed remorse for the break-in and has since got a job at a supermarket distribution warehouse.

Mitigating, James Holding said of Costello: “Whatever life he was into, he is out of that debt now. He has taken steps to address his offending by getting a full-time job.”

Judge Neil Clark gave him an 18-month jail sentence, suspended for 24 months, 200 hours of unpaid work and 20 rehabilitation days.

He told him: “You went off the rails when you hoped to make it as a rugby player.”