A burglar has been jailed for visiting the home of a witness and warning: “I would think twice about going to court.”
Ryan Warnock, 31, will spend Christmas and new year behind bars for offending which began in the early hours of August 16 at an address in Carlisle.
At around 3.10am, a resident at Godwine Close, near the Kingstown Industrial Estate, was woken by the sound of a motorbike being started.
Sophie Johnstone, prosecuting, told the city’s crown court today: “The resident checked Ring doorbell footage and saw that two males had come into her rear garden.
“One of the males was seen to be leaving on a Kawasaki 85cc motorbike. Upon checking the garden shed, the bike was missing and entry had been forced.”
Two padlocks had been snapped and an apparently dropped Nokia mobile phone was recovered.
“A neighbour to the burgled address provided footage to police and named the defendant as walking with two other males at 3.45am,” said Ms Johnstone.
Further CCTV enquiries were made and the motorbike was spotted at 3.22am. “Mr Warnock was identified as a potential defendant having been named (the neighbour) as being involved,” added the prosecutor.
Warnock was arrested four days later and quizzed three times by police before being bailed.
On November 5, at around 2.30am, a male was twice seen trying the door handle of the witness’s address.
Warnock then visited a neighbouring property and, when the witness’s name was mentioned, he stated: “You two threw us under the bus. I’d think twice about going to court.”
In an impact statement, the key witness outlined the emotional impact. “I was petrified of coming to court for the original case. He was trying to intimidate me. It didn’t work,” said the witness, who admitted: “I came close to dropping it. It has left me thinking ‘who’s lurking around, who’s watching?”
The witness’s children were woken and had also been affected. “I should be able to give a witness statement if I choose,” they added.
Defence lawyer Matthew Hopkins, mitigating, spoke of Warnock suffering from attention deficit hyperactivity disorder – ADHD – and a prolonged and entrenched history of substance misuse which started when he was 14 but which he was committed to addressing.
Warnock, of Drumburgh, west of Carlisle, was given a 10-month jail term by Recorder Eric Lamb after admitting burglary and witness intimidation.
