A CROOK who committed a late night Workington burglary just weeks after being involved in a bare-knuckle fight on a town housing estate has been jailed.
Nicholas Patrick Petre, 44, and 27-year-old opponent Dean Weston donned fingerless gloves on a gravelled area for the organised daytime rendezvous on May 15 before brawling in front of baying spectators.
“They are shouting foul abuse and encouragement to the parties to do as much damage to each other as possible,” prosecutor Gerard Rogerson said of the sizeable gathering. The fight was captured on a 70-second video clip – shared on WhatsApp – which the prosecutor described as “nasty” and “brutish”.
Mr Weston surrendered after being pulled to the ground and punched repeatedly during disgraceful scenes witnessed by a nearby householder who later described being “really rather frightened”. “Her husband was shielding at the time,” revealed Mr Rogerson. “She was concerned that people were ignoring government advice in terms of gatherings.”
Police later arrested Petre, of Rowe Terrace, Workington, and found blood-spattered gloves and trainers.
He was bailed but, in the early hours of June 23, a stunned town resident watched as he burgled her shed in the dead of night, taking out a large number of items, parcelling them up ready for removal and even putting on two items of clothing.
Petre made a failed bid to flee but was arrested at the scene with an illegally-held blade. The shocking impact of that offending was spelled out by the victim in two statements. “Since this incident she has been an emotional wreck,” Mr Rogerson told Carlisle Crown Court today (FRI). She has also said of heavily-convicted Petre: “What he has done has changed the way I’m living.”
Petre admitted burglary, having a bladed article and a public order crime, and was jailed for 30 months.
“You know and I know that this sort of conduct is completely unacceptable,” Judge Simon Medland QC said of the street brawl. Of the burglary, the judge noted: “This has had an appalling impact on the victim of your offending.”
