Schoolboy caught gang of burglars at his home

The crooks were high on drink and drugs and did not realise he had returned, so he was able to slip unnoticed from the property to raise the alarm, Wolverhampton Crown Court was told yesterday.

The pupil called police on a mobile and then kept watch from a distance until officers arrived to catch three of the four offenders fleeing from the address in Tettenhall.

The burglars struck while the schoolboy and his mother were out and the house was temporarily unoccupied, explained Mrs Sati Ruck, prosecuting.

She continued: "The schoolboy returned home just before 4pm and noticed that the front door was open. He went inside and heard noises upstairs. As he went to investigate he saw the back of a male searching through the bedroom of his mother. He crept out of the house, called the police and kept watch from the corner."

The thieves, who had got in through a patio door on November 19, tried to run off as officers rushed to the scene but three of those involved were quickly detained and most of the cash and jewellery stolen was recovered, the court heard.

Mr Matthew Hooper, defending, said: "It was not their intention to confront any of the occupants. Their behaviour is all they know but they want to make changes to their life."

Philip Berry, aged 20, from Travenna Way, Wrexham, 22-year-old Rory Connor of the Mary Street caravan site in Bradford and a youth of 17, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, each admitted burglary. All had previous convictions and Berry was on licence from custody after serving a sentence for a carbon copy crime.

Recorder Keith Raynor told them: "You were acting as a gang and deliberately targeted an unoccupied house to get money to spend on more drugs and alcohol. A 16-year-old boy came back from school to get on with his studies or leisure activities to find you in the process of burgling his family home. He showed great determination to assess the situation, get out of the house and monitor it until police arrived.

"Burglary causes heartbreak and feelings of insecurity to home owners."

Berry was detained in a young offenders institution for two years, Connor was jailed for 14 months and the 17-year-old youth received a 12-month detention and training order.

Detective Constable Richard Grace from Wolverhampton CID burglary team said after the case: "These burglars – who were part of an organised travelling crime group – have spent Christmas in prison thanks to the quick thinking and brave actions of the young teenager who caught them in his house red-handed. By sneaking back out of the property and dialling 999, police were able to race to the scene and arrest all three men as they were running away – resulting in swift justice and lengthy jail terms."