Burglar is caught fleeing after raid
JON MACPHERSON
ABURGLAR caught fleeing from a raid has been jailed. Liam Christopher Cumberland, of Accrington, caused more than £3,000 worth of damage to a Topps Tiles store after breaking in through roller shutters, a court heard.
Police were called to the premises in Blackburn at around midnight on June 21 this year and found two men inside, including Cumberland, wearing balaclavas and ‘rummaging through items’.
Prosecutor Jon Close told Preston Crown Court that as officers tried to set up a cordon the offenders fled and dad-of-two Cumberland, of Malt Street, was pursued onto a nearby canal path where he dumped the balaclava.
He said: “The defendant was stopped by police shortly thereafter and was identified as the perpetrator because he was known by police. There was forensic evidence linking him to the balaclava and a footprint left inside the store. The premises was insured but there was damage to roller shutters valued at over £3,000, damage to a cash box worth £55 and some tools were missing.”
Cumberland, 33, pleaded guilty to burglary and a Bail Act offence and was jailed for eight months. The court heard how he has 30 convictions for 58 previous offences and was jailed for 54 months in 2013 for a string of burglaries on mosques and businesses, including premises in Accrington and Great Harwood.
He is also currently serving a five-month jail sentence for failing to provide a specimen of breath.
Anna Chesnutt, defending, said Cumberland was in ‘dire straits’ at the time of the burglary and ‘saw an opportunity’.
She told the court: “He holds his hands up because he fully accepts that going into the premises and rooting around and disrupting their trade is something that is utterly unacceptable.
“If he had the opportunity to speak to the owner he would wholeheartedly apologise. At the time he was going through a very fraught set of circumstances but that’s no excuse. In early 2018 he and his partner split up.
“He fell victim to alcohol and drug addiction.
“He was in dire straits and not in his right mind.
“He’s 33 and realises he needs to stop as this lifestyle is getting him nowhere.”