A crafty burglar who raided a remote and isolated rural house cynically tried to cover his tracks by cutting the power supply to the property by tampering with a fuse box.
It meant that the occupier of the house could not monitor the CCTV coverage while he was away from the property. This caused him great concern when he tried to check the pictures but found that he could not do so.
He assumed that there must have been “some kind of technical issues or power cut” but he returned home to find that the house had been broken into and £600 cash and an air rifle had been stolen, Hull Crown Court heard.
Jonathan Coursh, 37, of Church Lane, Atwick, near Hornsea, but recently in custody on remand, admitted burglary on December 2.
Neil Coxon, prosecuting, said that the occupier of the house near Hornsea left his home locked and secure at 6.15am. He kept valuable birds in his back garden.
He used CCTV to monitor security and check on this using his mobile phone. He tried to check the CCTV at 10.15am but he could not do so. “He assumed that there was some kind of technical issues or power cut,” said Mr Coxon.
The man returned home from work and noticed that the gate had been pushed open and that the front door was not secure. “He noticed a smashed window,” said Mr Coxon. “He went inside and tried to put the light on. It didn’t work. He went to the fuse box and saw that it had been switched off. He turned it back on.”
The man spotted muddy footprints and saw glass on the floor. He checked the house and discovered that a mug, with £600 cash in it, had been taken. An air rifle, valued at £800, and a computer hard drive, valued at £400, had also been stolen. It cost £120 to repair the damage to the window.
Get all the latest crime and court news in Hull straight to your mobile via WhatsApp by clicking here.
If you don’t like our community, you can leave any time. We also treat members to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us and our partners. Read our privacy notice here.
Coursh was arrested on December 14. He made no comment to all questions during police interview. He had convictions for 49 previous offences.
Jane Rapin, mitigating, said that Coursh was not thinking straight at the time because of the diazepam that he had taken. “He has expressed genuine remorse for his actions,” said Miss Rapin.
“He went through a bad patch, which led to this offence.” Coursh claimed that he committed the offence on the spur of the moment. “He is sorry for that,” said Miss Rapin.
“He is taking positive steps to address his offending. He realises now that he is not getting any younger. He has shown genuine remorse and is actively trying to rebuild his life for himself.”
Coursh had been taking a welding course while in custody and he was stable on methadone.
Judge Alexander Menary said that Coursh was living at the time in a remote rural area within a couple of miles from the burgled property but his claim that he was walking back there at the time and just decided on the spur of the moment to burgle the premises was unlikely to be true.
The air rifle was recovered at Coursh’s home.
The burglary had upset the occupier of the house. “No one wants someone going through their things,” said Judge Menary. “This offence is so serious that only a sentence of imprisonment can be justified. There was an element of targeting.”
Coursh was jailed for 18 months.