Carr's file 'stolen by drug addict'

The secret plans for Maxine Carr's new life were stolen by a £120-a-day crack addict on police bail, it was revealed today.

The theft of the confidential dossier from the car of a Home Office official in Hampstead sparked a huge security alert.

Dozens of police were taken off normal duties to comb the area, and serious questions were raised about the safety of Carr, who had been subjected to death threats. But today addict Darren Jacobs, 33, admitted it was he who had broken into senior civil servant Bettina Crossick's vehicle.

Jacobs, who was said to earn £50 a day as a part-time painter and decorator for his brother, spent £120 a day on heroin and crack cocaine, making up the difference with crime, a court heard. When he broke into the
car he was on police bail for shoplifting.

He took a briefcase containing the Carr papers, but left his fingerprints on the vehicle.

Mrs Crossick had parked her car on the street to attend a friend's birthday party in a local pub. The documents were found on Hampstead Heath later the same evening.

Jacobs was remanded in custody by Highbury magistrates. He will be sentenced next month.