[A] BURGLAR who targeted a flood-hit Carlisle home with two partners-in-crime has received a suspended jail term.
Jonathon Martin, 23, admitted three charges when he appeared at the city’s crown court. These were a burglary and two thefts, all of which occurred on September 7 in 2016.
The court heard 23-year-old Martin and two brothers made an early morning trip to Carlisle in a Transit van. Between them they stole electrical cable and copper valued at around £1,000 from a property in Victoria Place which was undergoing renovation following serious flood damage.
A header tank was stolen from a vehicle parked in the street, and alloy wheels were also pinched from a back yard.
Martin – a previously convicted burglar – claimed he didn’t enter the flood-hit home and had thought it was a legitimate excursion to collect scrap metal.
Judge Barbara Forrester suspended a 12-week prison term for two years. Martin, of Hawthorn Cottages, South Hetton, County Durham, was also given a 15-week night-time curfew, and must complete 120 hours’ unpaid work.
The two brothers, also from County Durham, were sentenced at an earlier hearing.
