A prolific burglar who was drunk ransacked a church and stole the money from the collection box.
Mark Godsall, 43, a father of two, also raided a hair dressers’ shop in his home town of Denbigh, North Wales.
At Mold Crown Court he admitted both burglaries at St Thomas’ Church and the Blue hair-dressing shop after he left his blood at both scenes.
He was originally charged with a further nine burglaries in the town centre within the same 72 hours but all the others were dropped when the prosecution offered no evidence against him last week.
Godsall of Myddleton Avenue in Denbigh was said to have an appalling criminal record with 24 previous convictions for burglary or attempted burglary.
Judge Rhys Rowlands said that the burglary of the church was a very serious matter.
Sunday services had been disrupted, and it had a traumatic effect on the congregation, some of whom were elderly.
An untidy search had taken place and clearly some sort of implement had been used to prize open a filing cabinet in the Minister’s office and to get a key safe off the wall.
An internal door had been damaged as well as the double glazed window which was broken at the point of entry.
The judge said that Godsall claimed to have been drunk and could not remember what implement he had used.
But it would stretch incredulity to think that he had picked up an implement in the Minister’s office and probably took something with him, the judge said.
He had an appalling record and the judge said that he could not ignore a previous conviction for going equipped to burgle when he was out and about in Denbigh at night with a hammer, two screwdrivers and a woolly hat.
“A church was targeted here, a place of worship, and it clearly had a profound effect upon the congregation,” he said.
He had also burgled a hair-dressing shop where he stole the petty cash, owned by a hard-working woman.
The judge said that the defendant was registered disabled but that had not prevented him from committing the burglaries.
Prosecuting barrister Brett Williamson told how a double glazed window was smashed at the church in Vale Street and the defendant’s blood was left on the latch.
Nicola Lloyd had locked her hairdressing shop named Blue in Crown Lane but the same evening the front window was smashed and a petty cash tin was taken. Again police secured a DNA hit on blood left at the scene.
Arrested, he gave a no comment interview and was described as being rude and abusive with officers.
Sion ap Mihangel, defending, said that alcohol was the root cause of the defendant’s offending.
He was a man who had a difficult childhood and upbringing, he had used alcohol as a crutch, but had undertaken an alcohol course while on remand.
The defendant wished to take his responsibilities as a father seriously and appreciated that if he had to stop drinking which made him act impulsively without thinking about what he was doing.
SEE-http://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/north-wales-news/denbigh-burglar-who-stole-church-10638590
No comments:
Post a Comment