A judge said Sydney Black has an "awful record" for burgalry
A PROLIFIC burglar was caught after police found his DNA on a bottle of beer he had left at the scene, a court has heard.
Sydney Black broke into the house in Uplands, Swansea, in August this year while the owners were on holiday and stole four laptop computers — including one that contained irreplaceable family photos — mobile phones and a set of hair straighteners.
The 30-year-old then sold the items in a nearby park to pay-off drug debts.
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The 30-year-old is already serving a 1,752-day sentence for two other burglaries committed in August, both involving victims in their 70s and 80s.
Brian Simpson, prosecuting, said Black broke into the house in Penlan Crescent between August 7 and August 18 while the householders were away, stealing computers, phones and games consoles worth more than £3,000 and making-off with his ill-gotten-gains in a council garden waste sack.
He was tracked-down thanks to DNA on a bottle of beer he left in the house.
However, the DNA test results linking him to the crime didn't come back to police until August 26, days after Black had been given two 876-day sentences for burglaries in Morriston and Pontarddulais. In the first of those burglaries Black had gained entry to a house of a woman in her 70s and stolen her purse — when the homeowner confronted him, he pushed past her, knocking her into a door frame and injuring her shoulder. In the second burglary he had broken into a house while the owners, a couple in their 70s and 80s, were out. Black was piling up goods to put into black bin bags to steal when the victims returned home - seeing somebody in their house the couple rang police but the burglar hid in the attic of the property, where he was found by a police dog.
Judge Paul Thomas QC told Black he was already serving a long sentence for the Pontarddulais and Morriston break-ins, and in his view he "deserved every day of it".
He told Black that courts took burglary seriously not just because items - often with sentimental value - were taken but because people were left feeling distressed at having had strangers invading their homes.
The judge said: "This family came home from a holiday, a holiday they had no doubt worked hard to afford, to find someone like you had gone through their stuff.
"You have an awful record for burglary. Keep committing these offences, Mr Black, and the sentences will keep getting longer and longer. One day you will be too old to commit burglaries and that will be your life.
"It seems to me if you ever commit a dwelling house burglary offence again, you will be looking at six years plus."
His Honour sentenced Black to another 876-day sentence, to run concurrently with the other sentences.
Read more: http://www.southwales-eveningpost.co.uk/Judge-tells-burglar-day-old-commit-burglaries/story-28283117-detail/story.html#ixzz3tIkiqDJR
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