Jail over phone theft from pregnant woman
A burglar, who stole the mobile phone of an obviously pregnant woman four days before she was due to give birth, has been jailed for 14 months.
The victim was at home with a young child and was known to Steven Griffiths, who had a history of stealing from people who trusted him, Wolverhampton Crown Court heard yesterday.
The 39-year-old knocked at the door of the house, in Bloxwich Road, Walsall, and asked to use the toilet, said Mr Mark Rees, prosecuting.
The lawyer said she was aware of his lifestyle and would not let him in but Griffiths had got in while her back was turned and fled with her £350 mobile.
The victim said: "I was four days from giving birth and the phone was the way I kept in contact with my birthing partner. It also contained all my personal details such as banking information. The burglary left me feeling very stressed."
Griffiths had a drug problem and sold the phone taken in the burglary for £20.
The next day he stole two mobile phones collectively worth almost £700 from a mother of two young children who had known him for seven years and had invited him into her Walsall home for a cup of tea.
Griffiths then told her he had to go to church and took the phones without her knowledge on the way out. He admitted selling her phones for £50.
Griffiths from Stafford Road, Darlaston had previous convictions involving 41 separate offences including stealing cash from the homes of people he knew on three different occasions, the court heard.
He admitted burglary and theft and was sent to prison by Recorder David Crigman QC who told him: "These were inherently mean offences with a very similar theme."
