Battered face of Shrewsbury burglar revealed after breaking into family home and climbing on victim
This is the face of a man who burgled the wrong house - and is now in jail.
Prolific criminal Simon Budd, aged 41, climbed into a family home and got on top of a sleeping dad in bed in Buttington Road, Shrewsbury.
But he got more than he bargained for, finding himself being thrown out of the front door and on the receiving end of a good hiding.
Shrewsbury Crown Court heard how a neighbour witnessed three men outside the home in Monkmoor at around 8.50am on November 9. Two of them assisted Budd climb onto a garage roof as he went to break in.
The first the victim knew of what was going on was when he "felt a weight on top of him".
"He opened his eyes to see a man on top of him," prosecutor John R.Oates told the court.
A struggle ensued, with the victim sustaining injuries to his hands. He threw Budd off the bed and got him out of the house.
Mr Oates said the victim was worried his children may be in the house, but they had already left that morning.
"He lost his temper with the defendant and kicked him in the head," Mr Oates said.
When officers arrived to arrest Budd, he head-butted a policeman and kicked the door of the custody van, causing it to swing and hit a policewoman in the head. Neither officer sustained significant injuries from Budd's violence.
Budd, of Spring Gardens, Ditherington, Shrewsbury, pleaded guilty to one count of burglary with intent to steal and two counts of assaulting an emergency worker. He has 55 previous convictions for 37 offences.
Robert Edwards, mitigating, accepted the victim "has the right to defend his own home", but said Budd sustained injuries including a black eye and grazing on the left side of his head.
He also said Budd has a diazepam addiction, and his 104-year-old father is likely to die while he is behind bars.
Judge Anthony Lowe jailed Budd for 31 months for the burglary and attacking the police officers.
The judge also reduced a sentence Budd was handed by Telford magistrates for a series of offences including a common assault, another assault against a police officer and using threatening behaviour. He reduced it from 13 months to 10 months, giving a total of 41 months in prison, of which Budd is expected to serve half before being released on licence.