Thief slipped into peer’s house as he left for holiday

THE London home of a former attorney general was vandalised when a drug addict slipped through his front door while he was loading a taxi.

Lord Goldsmith, 69, was outside his £6.5 million Grade II listed house in Westminster when Sean James, a 49-year-old burglar, sneaked inside.

James was able to walk straight in before the QC, who served under Tony Blair from 2001-07, locked the door and left to join his wife on holiday in New York.

James, who smashed the back door and escaped after triggering an alarm, pleaded guilty to burglary and was jailed for three years at Southwark Crown Court yesterday.

Gregor Mckinley, prosecuting, said: “There was no encounter between the two. The alarm in the premises was activated in the upstairs master bedroom.

“When the police arrived there was damage to the door at the back of the property, some glass had been smashed. The police recovered from that door and a wall both fingerprints and DNA which very quickly linked to this defendant.” James was arrested at his home early the following morning.

In his victim impact statement, Lord Goldsmith said: “When the incident occurred my wife was in New York. She was very upset that someone had been in the house and in our bedroom.

“It spoilt what was intended to be a pleasant and relaxing trip. We have been very shaken by this incident.”

Darrell Ennis-gayle, for the defence, said: “He found himself in a significant drug debt and he was under significant pressure.

“He had no idea whose property it was. He is worried that the status and profile of the victim will have a bearing on the sentence.”

Judge Christopher Hehir told James: “The fact that the victim of your burglary is a high profile public figure is neither here nor there. What renders the offending more serious than anything else is your dreadful record.”

James, of Wandsworth, south London, was on licence for burglary at the time and had numerous previous convictions.