A brazen burglar who pretended to be a first responder after activating a fire alarm at their Carlisle apartment block has been given a suspended prison sentence.
Danny Attard, 32, passed himself off as a security guard during a visit to the University of Cumbria’s Fusehill Street city campus in mid-March.
Attard swiped a hi-viz jacket from a coat hook before stealing a rucksack from another staff area. He hid the rucksack with the jacket while leaving the building, pausing to make small talk with a man working on reception to whom the rucksack belonged.
Within minutes Attard had used one stolen card to buy goods from two nearby convenience stores. Six further attempts were thwarted after the cards were cancelled.
Attard committed two more burglaries at Carlisle’s Shaddon Mill.
First he unlawfully entered a communal area, deliberately activating a fire alarm before snatching a collection of keys. Attard then burgled the apartment of a couple who had been woken, confused, by the alarm in the early hours.
“He claimed to be a first responder and that he needed them to leave the property,” prosecutor Tim Evans told Carlisle Crown Court. “He entered the flat and started unplugging various appliances, claiming he needed to check the flat to see where the alarm was being triggered.”
Attard suggested the woman take valuables with her, and she removed some but left bank cards which Attard stole. “She mentioned the defendant had assisted her in helping her partner down the stairs due to his mobility issues at the time,” said Mr Evans.
The cards were cancelled by the time Attard tried to use one at a city centre shop where he was recognised.
He was arrested before admitting burglary and fraud offences.
As Attard, of Dixon’s Court, Carlisle, was sentenced today, Recorder Peter Horgan considered reports prepared by a probation officer and psychiatrist.
Attard’s lawyer suggested there was a realistic prospect of rehabilitation in the case of the father-to-be.
Recorder Horgan suspended a 22-month jail term for 18 months, also imposing a rehabilitation requirement and 100 hours’ unpaid work.
He told Attard: “It was fairly sophisticated offending you took part in.”
