Young burglar caught five months after judge gave him chance
A 21-year-old offender with a 'terrible' record who returned to crime five months after being given a chance by a judge has been locked up for more than two years.
Michael Baker and three other men escaped with £2,500 worth of power tools from Woodward Transport in Great Wyrley, Wolverhampton Crown Court was told.
He cut the padlock on the gate to the yard after another of the group failed to break in with a crowbar, said Miss Sophie Murray, prosecuting. Then they loaded their van with the haul and drove off on August 24.
But they were filmed by CCTV cameras and Baker, who had convictions for 13 previous offences, was recognised by police officers who had dealt with him previously.
Mr Stephen Cadwaladr, defending, observed: "This was not a professional gang. They were young fools."
The defendant, from Dartmouth Avenue, Willenhall, had been given a suspended two-year prison sentence for burglary last March, the court heard.
He pleaded guilty to the burglary at Woodward Transport and was jailed for two years four months by Judge Barry Berlin who told him:
"You were given a chance in March when, no doubt, the judge was told you had turned the corner and were going straight.
"But you have a terrible record and within five months you are on CCTV cameras using cutting equipment to get through a lock, and breaking in again.
"You were in a gang that went equipped for crime and this is serious when taken in the context of your previous offending."
