Thief dialled 999 to report burglary he carried out

A THIEF telephoned 999 to report his own burglary, a court has heard.

Johnathan Towers had raided a home in Gillingham, Kent, on July 5 and was in the process of stealing a television when he heard the householder returning home.

The 36-year-old, who lived on the same street as the house he raided, had smashed the French doors to get into the house, Maidstone Crown Court was told.

He had already put an Xbox, games, £550 in cash and a model boat into his bag when he heard the owner coming home. He dumped the television in the middle of the room and fled out of the French doors, and then promptly called 999 to report a break-in.

He told officers that he had spotted a criminal breaking into the house and had followed him inside.

Asked why his fingerprints were all

‘You lied in your interview and you set up a potential defence to say why you were there by ringing the police’

over the television, he told the court that he “must have touched the TV” as he followed the criminal into the house. Daniel Stevenson, prosecuting, told the court Towers had “made up the story” in a bid to escape justice, the Kent Messenger newspaper reported.

He told the court: “The defendant called the police to report a burglary, but records showed that was at the time the victim returned home and discovered he had been burgled.

“The inference is that the victim disturbed the defendant while he was taking the TV and, knowing he would have left his finger and palm prints on that TV, he took the opportunity to set up a defence.”

Judge Julian Smith told Towers: “You knew full well the police would catch you. You lied in your interview and you set up a potential defence to say why you were there by ringing the police. This was incompetent behaviour.”

Towers, who has 34 convictions to his name, eventually admitted burglary. He was sentenced to eight months in jail, suspended for two years, and ordered to complete a sixmonth drug rehabilitation course and do 150 hours of unpaid work.