BURGLARS RANSACK HOUSE OF PATIENT
Caught red-handed after community action
TWO men who broke into a house while the occupant was in hospital have been locked up for three years.
Lloyd Bennett, 45, of Amlwch Road, Benllech, and Kelvin Haughton, 32, also of Benllech, admitted breaking into the property in Waun Dirion, Benllech, and stealing a large television set.
A judge at Caernarfon Crown Court heard the men were seen by two “public- spirited and quickthinking” neighbours who alerted police and then followed the men to Bennett’s home.
After leaving the television set in his house, Bennett and Houghton then returned to the property and were caught red-handed by police officers.
Jailing both men, Judge Tracey Lloyd-Clarke said she was satisfied the house had been ransacked and the householder, having been hospitalised some four weeks earlier, was vulnerable at the time.
Bennett, the judge heard, had been handed a suspended prison sentence for dangerous driving last March.
The judge activated 20 weeks of that term to be served consecutively to the three-year jail term.
Michael Whitty, prosecuting, said Bennett and Haughton were seen by the two neighbours in Waun Dirion early on November 13 acting suspiciously, carrying a large television set on a furniture trolley. He said: “They recognised Bennett and, concerned about the suspicious behaviour, followed the two men at a discreet distance to his home. Police had been alerted and they attended.
“The officers were refused entry to the house by Bennett’s wife, who said he had left the property.
“They went to the burgled house and found both defendants.
“Bennett was emerging from a broken window and trying to make his escape. He was wearing a sock on one hand. The other defendant was found inside the property hiding in a closet.”
Jonathan Austin, for Bennett, said his client accepted he was facing a lengthy prison term but insisted the burglary was “opportunistic”. Brett Williamson, for Haughton, said his client regarded his behaviour that night as “blatant stupidity” having drunk alcohol and taken drugs.