Burglar who raided bank account jailed
A burglar who broke into a house while two young children slept and went on to almost empty their mother's bank account has been jailed for 21 months by a judge.
Jobless Darren Cleverdon stole mother-of-two Emee Fullwood's handbag during the raid and used the bank card she kept in it to plunder her account, Stafford Crown Court heard.
He left her with just a few pounds to her name after withdrawing the rest shortly after the break-in, the court was told.
Mr Jonathan Veasey-Pugh, prosecuting, said Miss Fullwood was 'devastated' by the crime because she was left with no money.
Cleverdon, aged 35, of Park View Terrace, Rugeley, admitted charges of burglary and fraud.
But he had argued that he had fallen behind with his rent after his benefits were stopped – and that 'temptation got the better of him'.
Recorder Mr Martin Wasik told him: "It is clear this lady was very badly affected by the taking of her bag and the loss of her money."
Mr Veasey-Pugh said Miss Fullwood and her two young children were asleep in bed in their end-of-terrace house when Cleverdon got in through a cat window on September 22 last year.
She awoke the following morning to find her bag missing from the kitchen.
It contained £50 in cash, her passport, driving licence and bank card amongst other personal property – none of which have been recovered since the raid.
Within hours of the burglary, Cleverdon was using the card to withdraw £140 from Miss Fullwood's bank account, leaving only a few pounds in it.
When police arrested Cleverdon on suspicion of the burglary, he claimed her had found the handbag and opted for trial but later changed his plea.
The court heard that Cleverdon had three previous convictions for house burglaries, making him liable for a three-year prison sentence.
But Mr Paul Lamb, defending, said that his client's previous burglary offences were more than 10 years old, and that the father of five had been in a desperate financial situation.
"At the time of these offences, he was on Jobseekers' Allowance, he unfortunately missed an appointment and he became sanctioned by the Benefits Agency.
"His benefit was stopped for six months. As a result of that period there was virtually no income, they got into significant rent arrears.
"He saw the window open, clearly temptation got the better of him, he was thinking only of his own desperation."
