Burglar who raided family home rumbled after scoffing half a carton of custard
A burglar who stole £45,000 worth of goods from a family home, including a Mini Cooper, was caught after leaving behind a half eaten custard.
Andrew Park, 30, had broken into the house, in Bowdon, whilst the family of five were on holiday. After ransacking the home, opening every drawer and cupboard door, emptying a wardrobe of clothes and taking money from a child’s money box, he loaded up the family car before stealing it, reports the MEN.
The family had to cut their holiday short and return to the devastation Park had left. He was tracked down after officers discovered a trail of blood in their bedroom, along with a half eaten carton of custard. After pleading guilty to burglary and theft, he was jailed for over three years at Minshull Street Crown Court.
Eleanor Gleeson, prosecuting, said that the family, including three young children, left their home on Delamer Road to go on holiday on April 5 this year. Four days later, on April 9, they received a phone call from police informing them their home had been broken into and the glass of one of the French doors had been smashed.
They returned home a day later to find a knife on the floor in the kitchen, along with a number of open drawers. In the living room there was a pile of the family’s belongings.
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In one of the child’s rooms a money box was smashed and all the change had been stolen. “On the upstairs landing a locked door of a cupboard had been forced open and a camera stolen. The camera case had memory cards in, with pictures of the children on that are irreplaceable,” Ms Gleeson said.
Every item of clothing had also been taken from the dressing room. In total, items worth £30,461 had been stolen along with the car, which was worth £15,000. The items included an engagement ring, a safe, passports, birth certificates and designer goods.
Damage was also caused to the house, costing £950. Blood swabs were taken from furniture inside the house which was later matched to Park. He was arrested in Scarborough after being involved in a car crash.
In a statement read to the court, the family said: “All I could think of was how are we ever going to make this feel like home ever again. Everything about this burglary has been disruptive at a very stressful time in our lives anyway. It has affected us more than I can convey and that has really impacted our children too.”
Park was said to have previous convictions for burglary, making him a ‘three-strike burglar’, meaning he would be sentenced to at least three years in prison. “This is a very serious offence of its kind,” Judge Mark Savill said in sentencing. I cannot quantify the loss and impact on them - somebody’s home is sacred. There is very little mitigation and you have a bad criminal record.”
Mitigating, Laura Broome said her client had ‘regret and remorse’ and was ‘filled with shame.’ She explained that he was homeless at the time, having previously been evicted. “The occupant of the house refers to the snacks and drinks left in the living room, including the half eaten custard,” she said. This was completely on impulse and not sophisticated.”
Park, of no fixed abode, was jailed for 40 months.
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