Man burgled house on day he was due in court
A MAN burgled a house and confronted the lone woman who lived there on the day he should have been in court in connection with other offences.
An intoxicated John Coles walked into the property in the middle of the day while the victim was upstairs busy painting her home.
Swansea Crown Court heard the woman has been left so upset by what happened she is considering selling the house and moving.
Sending the 45-year-old defendant to prison the judge said there was no realistic prospect of rehabilitation in his case, and immediate custody was then only suitable sentence.
Connor Evans, prosecuting, said the burglary took place at an address on New Road in Llanelli on the afternoon of October 6 this year.
He said the homeowner was home alone and was upstairs doing painting when she heard a male voice downstairs “muttering and mumbling”.
The woman went down and confronted the intruder who told her he was “what’s-his-name’s friend”.
The court heard Coles was slurring his words and appeared intoxicated, and the woman managed to usher him out of the property.
As she did so she noticed the burglar was holding the keys to her car which she took off him.
The woman called the police, and from the description she gave of the intruder officers were able to locate Coles on CCTV in Llanelli and arrest him.
When he was searched he was found in possession of the keys to the woman’s back door.
He subsequently answered “no comment” to all questions asked during his interview.
In a statement read to the court the victim said she had been left “shaken up” by being confronted by an intruder, and her family was now considering moving house.
John Coles, of Llandafen Road, Llanelli, had previously pleaded guilty to burglary when he appeared in the dock for sentencing.
He has 56 previous convictions for 102 offences including house and nondwelling burglaries.
The prosecutor said the defendant had been due to answer bail at magistrates’ court on the day of the burglary, and when he didn’t turn up a warrant for his arrest was issued.
Matt Murphy, for Coles, said there was an “element of impulse” in the offending when the defendant entered the property through an open door.
He said his client recognised he has a significant issue with substance misuse, and he said Coles wanted to apologise to his victim.
Judge Catherine Richards said it must have been a frightening experience for the homeowner to find herself confronted by an intruder whose intoxication made his behaviour unpredictable.
She said having read the pre-sentence report on the defendant it was clear there was no realistic prospect of rehabilitation in his case, and a custodial term was inevitable.
With a one-third discount for his guilty plea Coles was sentenced to 20 months in prison.
The defendant will serve up to a half that period in custody before being released on licence to serve the remainder in the community.