Jail term for man in raid during riots

A man who entered a store after it had been ransacked during summer riots was today starting a two-year jail term.

He was sent to prison despite leaving the West Bromwich store empty-handed.

Richard Cowley was arrested four months after the £12,000 break-in at Staples, when blood found at the scene was linked to him, Wolverhampton Crown Court heard.

Prosecutor Michael Taylor said a large quantity of electrical goods was stolen from the store after its roller shutters were smashed during the troubles on August 9.

Rioters and looters flooded the streets of West Bromwich, Birmingham and Wolverhampton in August, smashing their way into shops and stealing thousands of pounds worth of stock.

Unmarried Cowley, 32, was on a tagged curfew at the time after receiving a community order five weeks earlier for assaulting police, the court heard.

Cowley, from Pound Road, Oldbury, admitted burglary and was jailed for two years. Judge John Warner told him: "It was an extremely serious situation and you were part of it."

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