Burglar ate food in victim’s home... and even had bath
HE LEFT BLOOD AND DNA AT CRIME SCENES, WAS SPOTTED ON CCTV, ATE SNACKS HE FOUND INSIDE AND EVEN TOOK A BATH IN ONE VICTIM’S HOME
AMAN who rode around North Wales on a bicycle committing burglaries and theft has been locked up.
At one property David Paul Willcock ate crisps and chocolate he found inside and even took a bath.
The 40-year-old admitted charges of burglary, damaging property and theft when he appeared from custody for sentence at Caernarfon Crown Court.
Willcock, of no fixed address but formerly of Manchester and Blackpool, was said to have been “running away from his problems” during September and committed offences in order to “survive financially and find a place to stay”.
Jailing him for 30 months, Judge Huw Rees said: “You were surviving on the back of others.”
Jo Maxwell, prosecuting, said at the beginning of September Willcock damaged a keysafe box of a flat at Glaslyn Bridge, Porthmadog and used the key he found inside to open the front door.
She said Willcock ate crisps and chocolate found inside and had a bath. Water was still in the bath when the owner discovered the break-in on September 13, the court heard.
Shop receipts were found on the sofa by police and referring to CCTV footage officers saw Wilcock entering one of the stores. His blood was also found on the keysafe box.
Sometime between September 13 and 27 Willcock broke into a holiday home on the outskirts of Dyffryn Ardudwy near Barmouth. He made off with various electronic items after forcing open a window.
When the break-in was discovered police experts matched a DNA sample found on a glass to Willcock.
On September 18 he broke into the Tudor Slate Works near Caernarfon stealing £900 cash from the cafe and £200 worth of meat from the butcher’s cabin.
Several days later, having checked in to the Four Oaks hotel in Llandudno he was seen on CCTV cameras to steal a charity box from the reception area.
He was arrested at a guesthouse in
Barmouth in October and found to be in possession of £125 in cash and a crowbar.
Defence counsel Owen Edwards said Willcock’s best mitigation was his guilty plea. He said the offences were unsophisticated and he was “absolutely bound” to be caught.
Mr Edwards said the defendant had personal problems which had escalated during the summer when he was handed a four-month prison sentence, suspended for a year.
The judge also ordered Willcock not to enter Dyffryn Ardudwy for five years.