Burglar shinned up drainpipe then claimed he was afraid of heights
INTRUDER STOLE CASH AND JEWELLERY FROM HOME
A BURGLAR shinned up a drainpipe to steal more than £2,000 of jewellery and cash – then claimed it could not have been him because he is “afraid of heights”.
The owners of the large detached property had left an upstairs bedroom window ajar to let air in on the morning of July 1, Hull Crown Court heard.
It proved irresistible to prolific burglar Alan Wilcox, who may have got away with it if not for an alert neighbour.
Wilcox was seen entering the garden and looked suspicious because he was “wearing gloves on a hot day”, prosecutor Matthew Harding said.
The neighbour “saw the defendant looking up at the open window. He climbed up a drainpipe and through that window”.
Inside, Wilcox helped himself to 100 euros, £400 in change the victim had been saving up, £60 from a handbag downstairs, the contents of which were “tipped out on a table”, and jewellery worth between £1,500 and £1,800.
Mr Harding said this included items of sentimental value, such as a gold signet ring belonging to the victim’s husband, and other items belonging to her late mother and late aunt. Wilcox then coolly let himself out of the house in Queensgate, Bridlington, through a back door that had a key left in it.
But when the neighbour showed police their CCTV, which covered part of Wilcox’s activity, an officer “immediately recognised this defendant as he had been the defendant’s integrated offender manager following his release from prison in 2017”.
Wilcox, of Trinity Road, Bridlington, was arrested the next day and interviewed. Mr Harding said: “He denied committing the offence, saying he wouldn’t have climbed a drainpipe because he was afraid of heights.”
But Wilcox admitted burglary on the day he was due to stand trial when his barrister, Dale Brook, went through the evidence with him.
His long criminal record included 15 dwelling house burglaries, three attempted burglaries, non-dwelling burglaries and handling stolen goods.
Mr Brook said: “The case was quite different before that evidence was uploaded and as a result of the conference I had with him this morning he has entered his plea.
“His life has been blighted by addiction to class A drugs. There have been periods where he has remained drug-free, and he tells me after his last sentence; he was released in December 2017 from prison, he had organised a job through the prison authorities for himself. He had remained drug-free.
“He was living back with his family. His family have their own difficulties. He has brothers who have similar addictions to him. He ended up losing his employment, losing his home, and fell back to his old ways, essentially.
“Finding himself back in custody now, he admits he’s a man who, frankly speaking, has had enough of the life he’s been living for far too long.”
Jailing Wilcox for four years, Judge Paul Watson QC told him: “You deliberately target properties, you know what you’re doing. In this case it was a large residential dwelling in a good area, and you knew when the place was unoccupied it would be easy pickings.
“You know very well I have to give you a lengthy custodial sentence; it’s inevitable. You are verging on the professional. Society will not tolerate people breaking into other people’s homes – you know that.”