Homeless teenager, 19, who broke into parents’ home and stole £7,500 from their bedroom is jailed

• Tegan Doidge spent £7,350 before father realised the money had gone
• 'Can I give her a hug,' asks mother to judge while sobbing in court

Tegan Doidge, 19, jailed for stealing from her parents' home in Devon. She spent £7,350 of the stolen money before her father realised it had gone

As the daughter of a well-to-do  businessman, Tegan Doidge enjoyed all the benefits of a comfortable, middle-class upbringing.
She came from a loving home in a picturesque hamlet, close to paddocks where she could ride the family’s horses.
But in a shocking turn of events, the once-privileged 19-year-old ended up sleeping rough and has now been locked up for stealing £7,500 from her parents.
Doidge, who claimed on Facebook that she had been a student at Oxford University, was given a two-month sentence for breaking in to her family’s £300,000 country home and stealing the cash from their bedroom.
Her father, John Doidge, 50, who runs his own business contracting company, called police after realising the money was missing.
When Doidge was finally tracked down, the teenager was found with cannabis and just £150 left of the money. Before her arrest, she had been living rough near her former home in Ottery St Mary, Devon.
Doidge, who admitted burglary, was originally given a community order but was resentenced at Exeter Crown Court this week after failing to carry out 120 hours’ unpaid work.
As she was sentenced to two months in a young offenders’ institution, her mother Melanie, 42, sobbed in the public gallery.
She was given permission to visit her in the cells after asking the judge if she could give her daughter a hug.

Nineteen year old Tegan Doidge had all the benefits of a comfortable, middle-class upbringing

She ended up sleeping rough and has now been locked up for stealing from her parents

Tegan Doidge's parents John and Melanie. John discovered the missing money and called the police

Judge Euan Ambrose said he was reluctant to lock up Doidge, who had committed no other offences, but said he had no alternative.
He said: ‘It seems you are somebody for whom the clang of the prison gate will have a salutary effect.

 

‘You need to have the situation you have created brought home to you in a short and sharp manner.’
This week’s hearing was a second chance for Doidge. After being sentenced to community service in February she failed to attend and was brought back to court in May when she was given another chance to do the hours. Since then she has attended just one meeting then lost touch with the probation service.

Happier times: Parents John and Melanie owned horses and encouraged their daughter to ride

Tegan Doidge (second from left) was sentenced to community service in February which she failed to attend

The scene of the crime: John and Melanie Doidge's home in Exeter, Devon. Doidge stole £7,500

Greg Richardson, prosecuting, said Doidge had been ordered out of her parents’ home but returned and was seen by a neighbour breaking in through a cat flap in November last year. She found £7,500 cash in a drawer in her parents’ bedroom.
Speaking yesterday, her mother said she will stand by her wayward daughter, who stole money she had been saving to buy a truck and trailer for her horses.
Mother-of-five Mrs Doidge, an NHS carer for the elderly, said: ‘Tegan has difficulty understanding times and situations. It is all a cry for help.
‘I will stick with my family, whatever they have done.’

Tegan's mother Melanie Doidge (pictured right) said she would stand by her wayward daughter

Doidge posts where she is on Facebook before her court appearance at Exeter Crown Court

Posting on Facebook yesterday, Doidge tells her friends she will not be back home for a while

On being allowed to see her daughter in the cells, she added: ‘I thought I was going to be able to give Tegan a hug but we had to do it through glass doors. It was awful.
‘Jail will be a shock for Tegan and that is maybe what she needs.’
Judge Ambrose told Doidge a custodial sentence was the only option due to her ‘chaotic lifestyle’. He was told it was not possible to put her on a tagged curfew as she was homeless.
‘This is a short sharp shock to bring home to you the effect of not complying with this order but without crushing you or introducing you to a criminal lifestyle,’ he said.
‘You have proved singularly incapable of fulfilling promises and the explanation for this is your chaotic lifestyle, living on friends’ sofas.
‘It is a situation you have brought fairly and squarely upon yourself.’
Before her hearing, Doidge wrote on Facebook: ‘Doesn’t look too good for me! See you all in 6months!’
Gareth Evans, defending, said Doidge had not been in trouble before or after the burglary, and needed help to address homelessness and other issues.