Knife-wielding burglar jailed for 32 months after stealing £21k car
A blundering burglar was caught after a quick-thinking victim took his photograph as he made his getaway, a court was told.
Michael Gavin walked off empty-handed from the back garden of a house he tried to break into, only for the chasing householder to snap him on his mobile phone.
The picture was recognised by police who arrested the 24-year-old after he abandoned his rucksack following a struggle near the scene. It was found to contain an axe, crowbar, chisel and mole grips.
Gavin, who claimed to be from Preston but who gave his current address as Whinney Hill Road, Accrington, was sent to prison for 32 months.
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He pleaded guilty to one count of burglary, another of attempted burglary, one of theft, two offences of going equipped for housebreaking and two of possessing a bladed article.
The offences were committed in a smart area of Burnley in broad daylight. The court was told he had burgled one house in Rosehill Avenue but a week later was disturbed trying to get into a second in the same road.
When confronted by the woman in the back garden of her home Gavin told her he was from Preston, didn’t know the area and had mistakenly called at the wrong address looking for a man who owed him money.
Prosecuting barrister Hanifa Patel said the woman had taken out her phone trying to get a picture of him as he stared at her through the window.
He told her: “Tell Aiden to come out. Open the door and tell Aiden to come out.” When she said no-one of that name lived there he replied “sorry” and walked off with a rucksack on his back.
She found the garden gate had been forced and there were marks on the window where it appeared he had tried to force it open.
The woman’s husband got into his car and set off down the road in search of the intruder. He came across him sitting on a wall and confronted him. Gavin told the man: “I’m from Preston. Aiden owes me money.”
The man quickly snapped his photograph on his phone at which point Gavin became aggressive and “looked like he was going to hit him.”
He rang the police and Gavin made off. The house owner made a grab for the rucksack on his back, but Gavin unclipped the strap and fled the scene leaving it behind.
The court was told that a week earlier a house had been broken into a home in the same avenue as the owners were out for an afternoon walk. When they returned the burglar alarm was sounding and they discovered a window had been smashed at the rear.
Nothing appeared to have been stolen despite a purse and iPad being on view. They assumed the intruder had fled after hearing the alarm go off. But the following day they discovered their car was missing from the garage.
The vehicle, worth around £21,000, was later found abandoned in David Street, Burnley. In it police found a rucksack which contained a knife, a chisel and a crowbar. Forensic tests showed Gavin’s DNA on the bag.
Miss Patel told Judge Ian Unsworth that the break-in and the theft of the car had had a big impact on the couple.
Barrister Lewis Bocking, representing Gavin, asked the judge to give his client “one final chance” and not to impose an immediate prison sentence.
“He is genuinely remorseful, he is ashamed of his offending and he says it came at a particularly low point in his life,” she said.
He said he had been diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) following the death of his father and had lost his employment as a result. He had turned to illicit drugs and spent all his savings, so ran up a debt with a drug dealer.
When he committed the offences he had been looking for ways to repay that debt. “That doesn’t excuse what he did, but it demonstrates the level of desperation he found himself in.”
Judge Unsworth rejected the request for a suspended sentence and told Gavin: “Anyone who burgles property or attempts to burgle property can expect severe punishment.
“They (burglaries) strike fear into householders. It’s often not the value of property taken, it’s the feeling of insecurity. A home that should be their safe haven has been penetrated by a complete stranger.”
He sentenced him to a total of 32 months for the seven offences.