A bungling burglar left one of his trainers behind after breaking into a house owned by a couple in their 80s – leading police to go on a Cinderella-style hunt for the foot that fitted it.
And Swansea Crown Court heard the search ended in Uplands Terrace, Morriston, Swansea, at the house of 22-year-old Joel Bruton. At Bruton’s home police found the other Nike Air Max trainer he had been wearing when he burgled the house of David and Mary Francis in nearby Bath Road, Morriston, last September.
On Friday Bruton was jailed for two-and-a-half years by Judge Huw Davies QC who described his actions as “appalling”.
Dean Pulling, prosecuting, described how on September 19 last year Bruton took 28 valium pills before going out in the early hours.
He described how Bruton met a 16-year-old boy and after initially acting aggressively pretended to be friendly before making off with the teenager’s phone – a nearly-new iPhone 6.
Mr Pulling said: “The defendant made off down Glantawe Street and then broke into the bungalow of David and Mary Francis, Mrs Francis being 87.
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Fled through window
“Mrs Francis, who slept in a separate bedroom to her husband, had retired to bed at around 10.30pm the previous evening only to be awoken by the defendant in the early hours of September 19.”
The court heard Mrs Francis at first thought she was dreaming when she woke to see Bruton with a torch searching through the bedroom.
When her husband came into the room Bruton fled empty-handed through the window – leaving one of his Nike Air Max trainers behind as he clambered through a set of blinds.
Mr and Mrs Francis called in the police.
Mr Pulling said later that day Bruton went into the centre of Swansea and called at a mobile phone shop where he paid £25 to have the stolen iPhone unlocked and switched to another network.
However the 16-year-old owner of the phone had also gone into Swansea to inquire at mobile phone shops about his missing device and spotted Bruton.
Mr Pulling said Bruton lashed out at the 16-year-old and a male friend with the friend being left with a “nasty” cut to his mouth.
Police arrested Bruton when he went back to the phone shop to pick up the stolen phone.
'Appalling behaviour'
Some time later police went to Bruton’s home in Morriston to find the other Nike Air Max trainer they had been searching for in relation to the break-in at Mr and Mrs Francis’ home.
At Swansea Crown Court Bruton admitted burglary, common assault, assault occasioning actual bodily harm, and theft.
Andrew Evans, defending, pointed out his client had taken pills before entering the couple’s home and had no memory of the incident.
But Judge Davies said: “It would not have been much comfort to Mr and Mrs Francis to have learned the person who broke into their home in the middle of the night was out of his mind on drugs.”
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He added: “Maybe he can’t remember it but unfortunately Mrs Francis is not going to be able to forget it.”
The judge told Bruton: “You subjected four people to terrifying experiences and the fact you had taken Valium makes it worse not better.
“Each of the offences you committed involved appalling behaviour.”
The judge said he would not pass a suspended sentence as suggested by Mr Evans saying: “Someone who breaks into the home of a couple in their 80s in the middle of the night must expect to go to prison.”
Mr Evans said Bruton had expressed remorse and disgust at his actions.
see-http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/burglar-broke-elderly-couples-home-10742663
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