Nathan Esparon pleaded guilty in Moorabbin Court to theft charges after Plenty Parklands Primary School attempted break-in

A Carnegie thief has been busted trying to break into a Mill Park primary school in the dead of night using his grandfather’s car, all to fund his “full blown” drug habit.

Nathan Esparon was sentenced to six months prison after trying to break into Plenty Parklands Primary School in 2023.

A serial petrol thief will spend more time behind bars after he was busted trying to steal equipment from primary school kids in the dead of night, all to fund his ice addiction.

Nathan Esparon, 37, pleaded guilty in the Moorabbin Magistrates’ Court on March 13 to a litany of charges after a string of petrol thefts ended with him trying to break into a primary school in Melbourne’s north.

The court heard Esparon and his co-accused tried to break into Plenty Parklands Primary School in Mill Park in the middle of the night in 2023.

A neighbouring resident heard sounds from the school grounds, including banging, scuffling and movement around a locked shipping container.

The neighbour saw Esparon and a co-offender walking into the Plenty Gorge Parklands behind the school, before calling the cops with a description of the pair.

Esparon and his co-accused attempted to flee the scene in the Plenty Gorge Parklands, but were tracked down by Air-Wing cops. Picture: Ian Currie

Police attended the school and — together with an air-wing unit — began searching for the duo in the parklands.

Investigators also found the shipping container’s lock had been cut, with a pair of bolt cutters abandoned nearby.

The shipping container also showed signs of attempted forced entry, however nothing was stolen.

Cops found Esparon’s grandfather’s car parked outside the school, where they seized two mobile phones, an angle grinder, a screw driver and a torch from inside the vehicle.

The two men eventually surrendered themselves to police.

The school break in followed a string of petrol thefts, where Esparon stole $108 worth of fuel from servo’s across Melbourne’s north and inner-eastern suburbs.

Esparon appeared in the Moorabbin Magistrates’ Court via videolink on Thursday.

On Thursday, Esparon appeared in court via video-link from Ravenhall Correctional Centre in prison greens.

The court heard he had spent 100 days behind bars already, after procrastinating dealing with his offending

Esparon’s lawyer told the court his offending was to fuel his “fully blown” ice addiction, that he developed as an early adult.

Magistrate Angela Bolger convicted and sentenced Esparon to six months prison and fined him $1200 for the petrol thefts.