Four years jail for bungling burglar who got stuck in house window
A habitual burglar who tried to break into a house while the owner was asleep inside has been jailed for four-and-a-half years.
Telford man Michael Wingate, 42, had only been released from prison eight weeks before his bungled attempt in Hadley.
Shrewsbury Crown Court heard that CCTV showed the intoxicated Wingate only able to get his head and shoulders through a small window at the house.
His accomplice, Rachael Lovett, 41, who held a torch for the burglar, received a 22-month suspended jail sentence and was ordered to carry out 200 hours of unpaid work in the community.
They admitted at an earlier hearing attempted burglary and going equipped for burglary.
Judge Jonathan Gosling said Lovett was a vulnerable woman who chose her partners unwisely.
Stuck
Mr Edward Soulsby, prosecuting, said the pair had gone to a house in Hadley in May and Wingate made a drawn-out attempt to get through a small window.
“He got his head and shoulders through but couldn’t get his body through,” he said.
When the householder was disturbed by the noise he contacted the police and the pair were arrested close by.
They had tools in a rucksack.
Ms Caroline Harris, for Lovett, said her client was a very vulnerable woman with learning difficulties.
All she had done was hold a torch for Wingate.
Lovett, of Gladstone Court, Hadley, was frightened of what would happen to her now, had not slept and was on medication.
For Wingate, Mr Simon Rippon, said his client should be given credit for his guilty pleas.
The judge said Wingate, of Brindley Ford, Brookside, had been in trouble since the age of 12 and a habitual house burglar since a teenager.
He was also an abuser of drugs.
His latest victim, he said, did not now feel safe in his own home.
