Burglar back behind bars after four days of freedom

FOUR days of freedom were all a burglar got to enjoy before finding himself back behind bars after he broke into a family's home and was caught.

Luke McDonnell had been out of prison for less than a week when he was arrested for burgling a family's home on Hillmorton Road in July.

And a judge at Warwick Crown Court heard how the 26-year-old confessed to five other offences when he was arrested - including one the police did not even know had been committed.

McDonnell, of no fixed address, was jailed for 21 months after pleading guilty to one charge of burglary and asking for his other offences to be taken into consideration.

Prosecutor Theresa Thorp said that on July 21, a family were at a party when they had a call to tell them the alarm at their Hillmorton Road home was going off.

When they got back they found a window had been smashed and an iPad, an iPod and other electrical items worth £640 had been stolen.

But the police found traces of McDonnell’s blood on the inside of a door, and when he was arrested he admitted the burglary and also confessed to three more house burglaries, an attempted burglary and a theft.

He explained he always used the same method of going to a property and knocking on the door. Then, if there was no reply, he went round to the rear of the house and threw something through a window.

McDonnell - who had 30 previous court appearances for 65 offences and had only been released on July 17 from a short prison sentence for shoplifting - added he spent any money he made on alcohol and drugs.

David Everett, defending, said McDonnell had come from ‘a difficult family background’ and had started drinking on a daily basis when he was just 12.

He had been on anti-depressants while serving his last sentence but had no access to them after his release.

With no fixed address, he ended up ‘sofa-surfing’ at the homes of friends and quickly went back onto alcohol and drugs.

Mr Everett said: "He could not possibly have helped the police any more than he did. The last offence he admitted was before the police even knew the offence had taken place because it had not been reported."

Jailing McDonnell, Judge Marten Coates said: "You don’t need me to tell you that you have an appalling record for someone who is only 26 years of age."

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