A BURGLAR tackled by a plucky have-a-go householder during a Carlisle break-in just hours into the new year has been jailed.
The city’s crown court heard how a man and his partner returned to the Lightfoot Drive address in Harraby at around 3am on January 1 following a night out, and heard voices.
Dale Graham, 35, and a partner-in-crime tried to run away. However, the householder took hold of Graham, who was punched and cut his head on wine bottles which were broken during a violent struggle.
Graham was detained at the crime scene by the man and his partner until the arrival of a PC who saw the intruder “bleeding and covered in blood”.
Graham, a man with 139 previous offences to his name, admitted burglary.
Appearing in court over a video link from custody, Graham, of Charlotte Street, Carlisle, told Judge James Adkin he went to the property believing there was a house party. “I apologise if I caused any inconvenience to them,” said Graham. “I didn’t realise it was a burglary.”
Jailing him for two years, Judge Adkin remarked: “There was some rough justice, it seems, meted out at the scene.”
