Householder punched and hit burglar
Court Reporter A BRAVE householder gave a serial burglar a good hiding with a stag ornament after catching him creeping around his house in the dead of night.
Shaun Davison and his girlfriend were asleep in bed when they were disturbed by the sound of Gary Shackleton and an accomplice downstairs.
A court heard Mr Davison picked up a stag ornament from next to his bed and went to investigate – and to his horror came face to face with the intruders.
A judge said the householder showed “extraordinary bravery” in repeatedly hitting Shackleton with the stag until it broke, then punching him.
Eventually his girlfriend shouted at him to let them go and the lowlife thieves fled.
Shackleton has previously been sentenced to a total of 14 and a half years in jail for offences since 2007 and had been out celebrating his release from his last prison sentence three days earlier when he committed his latest break- in.
As he was sent back behind bars, Mr Davison said: “I will never forget the sick feeling when I heard someone in my home.
“I was worried in case one of them had a knife.
“They have taken away our feeling of security and we will be moving.
“I will never forget having to fight people who were stealing in my own home.”
The victims were asleep at their home in Birdhope Close, Benwell, Newcastle, around 5.45am on November 28 when they became aware of the burglary.
Mr Davison’s girlfriend woke him and told him she thought there was someone in the house.
Prosecutor Mark Giuliani said: “He grabbed an ornamental stag from a set next to the bed and went out of the bedroom and downstairs.
“He was confronted by two men, one of which was the defendant.
“He hit the defendant with the stag ornament to the left side of the face, then started punching him.
“The stag ornament broke and Mr Davison’s girlfriend came to the top of the stairs shouting ‘let them go.’ He did and they ran from the house.” The victims then noticed their car had been stolen but CCTV showed this was 90 minutes earlier before Shackleton turned up and prosecutors accepted he was not responsible for that. DNA tests on the stag ornament showed it had Shackleton’s blood on it and he was arrested. The 31-year-old, of Coventry Gardens, Newcastle, who already had eight convictions for home raids among 68 previous offences, pleaded guilty to the burglary. Locking him up for three years and eight months, Judge Robert Spragg said: “He struck you with the stag ornament on several occasions, causing it to break, and also punched you in the head and face. “You punched him back Shaun Davison
once. “He should be commended for the extraordinary bravery he showed in defending his home against you.
“It is appalling you put him in a position where he had to do this.”
Barry Robson, defending, said Shackleton had been released from his last jail term three days earlier and had been out celebrating.
He added: “Since 2007 he has received 14 and a half years in prison sentences.
“His guilty plea is the best mitigation he has.
“He realises he had to break the habit at the age of 31.”