A MAN accused of stealing a valuable antique clock from a South Lakeland stately home missed a scheduled appearance at Carlisle Crown Court – because the van bringing him from prison got stuck in the snow.

Graham Geoffrey Harkin, 57, was due to answer charges he had burgled Levens Hall and several other historic houses all over Britain.

But the van in which he was travelling from Durham Prison, where he is being held on remand, had to turn back because of the appalling road conditions in the North-East.

Harkin, of Chestnut Walk, Wakefield, is accused of stealing a £200,000 clock from Levens Hall and a £50,000 sundial from Dalemain House, near Penrith.

He is also accused of burglaries at: Lanhydrock, a National Trust house near Bodmin in Cornwall Longner Hall, a Tudor gothic-style mansion in Uffington, near Shrewsbury And Firle Place, a country estate in Sussex which is used by judges visiting Lewes Crown Court – and which he allegedly burgled while a judge was in residence.

He is also under investigation in respect of what have previously been described as 17 “high class domestic burglaries” in North Yorkshire.

In his absence the case was adjourned until December 15, when he is expected to be asked to enter pleas to the charges he faces.