Thief who stole £15,000 jewellery from Wolverhampton market is jailed
A thief who broke into Wolverhampton's indoor market and stole £15,000 of gold, silver and diamond jewellery has been locked up for 16 months.
Stephen Whitehouse from Wednesfield broke in to Nine Carat Straight Gold through a skylight and then smashed his way through the ceiling.
The 45-year-old ransacked the unit, smashing the display cabinets, shattering the clock on the wall, hurling stock over the floor and leaving a trail of blood and his own excrement.
The raid happened just before midnight on December 4, leaving owners, husband and wife Jai Gopal and Sushma Bagga with a depleted stock for Christmas.
Mrs Bagga, aged 50, said: "He took everything: silver, gold, diamond rings, gold watches.
"We didn't celebrate Christmas, we didn't go anywhere, we didn't invite anyone to the house because we were upset.
"He took all of the gold and silver, the diamonds, and we don't have the money to put it back so we only do watches at the moment."
Whitehouse, of Wright Avenue, earlier pleaded guilty to burglary and was this week jailed for 16 months at Wolverhampton Crown Court.
Judge John Warner said: "I'm quite satisfied that this was a very significant loss to these people and that's what really counts.
"It meant that Christmas stock was taken and that would have been their busiest period of the year."
The husband and wife, who live in Penn, have run the stall for almost 15 years. They say they have been unable to claim insurance as the store was not alarmed.
They said their only theft previous to this was a customer who ran off with a £250 gold necklace.
"We don't know yet what we will do," said Mrs Bagga. "Business has slowed down and the market is going to close as well. We are struggling.
"We didn't get anything back. He took everything and we didn't get a penny. The person who did it, that is his habit to do it, but we have lost everything."
The court heard how Whitehouse was tracked down by police because of blood and DNA left at the scene.
Jon Roe, defending, said Whitehouse had been roped in to the burglary by another man as he had been suffering from financial problems.
Whitehouse said the skylight was already damaged before he committed the burglary, and Mr Roe said it was 'completely unplanned, a spur of the moment decision to assist this person'.
"Whitehouse accepts that he soiled himself, but states that was not a deliberate soiling of the property, but a reaction to his medical difficulties," added Mr Roe.
