Heroin addict jailed for more than 90 burglaries
A DRUG
addict has been jailed after committing more than 90 burglaries and attempted
burglaries and stealing £280,000 worth of property.
Danny Lane,
of The Beeches Mobile Home Park, in Old London Road, near Chipping Norton,
pleaded guilty to 11 offences – but asked for a further 84 to be taken into
consideration.
The
32-year-old carried out the crimes around Oxfordshire, Surrey and South London
between 2010 and January this year.
His most
recent string of offences were seven burglaries and four car thefts between
October last year and May this year when he was arrested.
Jonathan
Stone, prosecuting, told Oxford Crown Court that at the time Lane had been on
temporary release from Spring Hill Prison, in Buckinghamshire, after receiving
a three-year sentence in May 2011 – again for burglary.
On Friday he
was sentenced to six years for the burglaries and attempted burglaries, as well
as three months for not returning to prison.
Mr Stone
said during the break-ins he helped himself to a range of items including
laptops, wallets, iPods, passports and jewellery.
He added
that at one house Lane stole property worth a total of £225,000, including a
gold Cartier watch.
And at four
of the houses he also took car keys and then stole vehicles from outside, the
barrister said.
But Mr Stone
added that Lane’s sentencing had been delayed because he wanted to tell the
Metropolitan Police about his crimes in London.
James
Burley, defending, told Judge Ian Pringle that his client had seen his father
die in a “football riot” when he was just 14.
After that,
the barrister said, Lane had fallen into drug abuse and had now been a heroin
addict for many years.
Judge
Pringle said he took into account that Lane had expressed remorse and had been
honest with the police about the crimes he had committed.
He said to
the defendant: “Without being too blunt about it, you have made a mess of your
life so far.
“And that is
no doubt because of the drug addiction you have been gripped by.
“When you
are eventually released I hope that you will remind yourself that the damage
you do by this offending is enormous. Your challenge when you are released is
making sure you remain drug free for the rest of your life.”
The
burglaries were committed overnight on January 24 at a house in Wharton Road,
Headington; at a house in Henley Avenue, Iffley, on March 25; at a house in
Headley Way, Headington, on April 10; at a house in Church Street, Chipping
Norton, on April 13; at a house in Lidstone Road, Enstone, on April 29; at a
house in South Newington on May 7; and in Churchill Road, Chipping Norton, on
May 9.
One of his
victims, a 36-year-old woman from Oxford who did not wish to be named, welcomed
the sentence.
She said: “I
feel sad for him as he’s clearly a desperate man who has had a difficult life,
but hopefully he will now learn not to do it again.
“My husband
and I were in our house at the time when we were burgled. I would not wish it
upon anyone else.
“Justice has
been done. I trust the system and think the punishment is fair and I now hope
this does not happen to anyone else.” Oxford Mail