Drug-fuelled burglar ordered victim out of her home
ADRUG- FUELLED burglar left a homeowner terrified after she returned home to find him ransacking her house, a court heard.
Ryan Shaw, 21, smashed his way into a house on Alder Avenue in Rawtenstall on September 13 this year and stole jewellery, an X-Box, laptop, iPod and docking station.
However he was caught ‘red-handed’ when the owner returned and left her terrified when he shouted at her to get out of her own house.
Burnley Crown Court heard how the prolific burglar was under the influence of cocaine, diazepam and cannabis at the time of the burglary, and was on licence from prison having been released from a 26-month sentence in January this year.
Bartender and scaffolding worker Shaw, of Brearley Street, Bacup, pleaded guilty to burglary and was jailed for 32 months.
Stephen Parker, prosecuting, said Shaw told police that he was walking past the house and recognised it ‘because he used to live there some time ago with his family’.
The court heard how went to the back of the house and threw a stone or rock at the kitchen window to gain entry.
Shaw told officers that ‘it wasn’t planned and just happened’, the court heard.
Mr Parker said: “When he was in the house he heard the front door open and accepted he shouted to the owner to get out of the house and she then ran out of the property allowing him the opportunity to leave via the back door.”
The court heard how Shaw ‘stashed’ the items in a bush near a carpets shop in Rawtenstall, however the items have not since been recovered.
Benjamin Lawrence, defending, said the burglary was ‘spontaneous and he acted alone’.
He told the court: “It’s obviously aggravated by the confrontation he had with the householder returning home. There was no violence or anything like that to make it a more serious offence.
“He admitted it imme- diately upon being interviewed and gave full and frank admissions and provided the locations of the missing items. He has been helpful and done all he can to aid the recovery of the items and said he was sorry for what he had done.”
Mr Lawrence said Shaw was evicted from his home in June, his partner then left him and he ‘dealt with that unproductively and relapsed into his previous drug use’.