A prolific North Shore thief who has spent much of the past 20 years committing property offences was sent to jail for three years Thursday, after pleading guilty to his 84th offence.
Dean Macarthur Durnie, 40, was handed the federal prison sentence after pleading guilty to breaking into a home on Altamont Place in West Vancouver in the middle of the night between March 15 and 16 while the residents were home asleep.
Durnie got into the house through an unlocked sliding window and stole a Nintendo Wii unit, a bankcard and a commemorative Olympic ruble banknote from Russia. Residents didn't find out about the break in until they got up the next morning.
Police noticed Durnie - who is banned from the North Shore as a condition of probation - standing at a bus stop with a bag near to where the break-in happened. He was eventually arrested and searched and the stolen items were found in his possession, along with some drugs.
Durnie is well known to police on the North Shore, having made a lengthy criminal career from residential break-ins and other property offences in North and West Vancouver.
Among his past offences, Durnie broke into the Marine Drive home of then-West Vancouver Mayor Pamela Goldsmith-Jones in the summer of 2011, when she and her family were away, making off with $4,500 worth belongings after helping himself to food in the house. He was jailed for 22 months and put on probation for three years for that.
In 2008, residents in an upper Lonsdale neighbourhood petitioned to have Durnie banned from the North Shore after a 70 year-old resident found Durnie sleeping in her fifth-wheel trailer as she was loading groceries for a weekend getaway. Police were waiting when Durnie exited the motor home, eating some of the food and carrying a couple of beers.
Around the same time, Durnie also entered an unlocked basement and stole a $3,000 bicycle and nine bottles of wine.
In 2007, Durnie entered a home in the night through an unlocked carport door while residents were asleep upstairs and ransacked an unoccupied bedroom.
In another incident in 2011, a woman called police after finding Durnie at her kitchen table. When confronted, he apparently told her, "This is an awkward situation."
As a prolific repeat offender, Durnie is frequently under surveillance by police.When police took him back to the station following his latest arrest this week, Durnie told officers he was going to get a gun and come back to the detachment, and added that he's thought about killing West Vancouver police officers for six years, said Crown counsel Snover Bains. Durnie's defence lawyer Herb Chambers said while Durnie's remarks are "certainly regrettable", he has no history of violence. He said Durnie struggles with an addiction to crack cocaine.
In handing down her sentence, North Vancouver provincial court Judge Joanne Challenger said Durnie had to be locked up to protect the public.
