Prolific burglar is back behind bars (From Swindon Advertiser)

Prolific burglar is back behind bars

8:30am Wednesday 13th March 2013 in News By Scott D'Arcy

A PROFILIC burglar who broke into a bike repair business just weeks after being freed from prison is back behind bars.

Sean Porter was on early release licence from a three-year jail term imposed for house breaking when he carried out the latest raid.

The 34-year-old, of Ventnor Close, took a ladder he found on an industrial estate to get to a first floor window at Origin Cycles’ business unit and force the window.

Once inside, Porter, many of whose 102 previous convictions are for burglary, stole four bikes which belonged to customers, including the police, and were worth thousands of pounds.

And because the fledgling company was not insured it will have to dip into its own reserves to compensate the losers, Swindon Crown Court was told.

Colin Meeke, prosecuting, said Justin Woodward left the premises on the Rivermead Industrial Estate secure when he went home on the evening of January 25.

But when he arrived the following morning he spotted the upstairs window had been forced and once inside found ‘a fairly untidy state of affairs’.

Items had been moved about and a number of push bikes, worth £9,000, had been taken along with £100 of protein bars and shakes, some watches and cash.

Among the mess there was also a trail of blood which led from the window, which was a DNA match with Porter.

He was arrested and at first denied having anything to do with the offence but when the forensic evidence was put to him admitted what he had done.

Mr Meeke told the court he said Porter was ‘walking through the industrial estate at about 10pm, someone left a ladder out and he used it to climb up and force the window’.

While climbing through he cut his leg then filled his bag with the shakes and bars and took the bikes from an adjacent display.

He then put the property in an adjacent field with a view to returning, but when he went back it was gone.

Porter pleaded guilty to a charge of burglary. The court heard he had 102 previous convictions and was jailed for three years in September 2011.

Rob Ross, defending, said his client had not been out of prison long and was having problems getting benefits when he committed the ‘impulsive’ offence.

“He committed the offence for the oldest reason in the books: he didn’t do it for drink, he didn’t do it for drugs, he didn’t do it for fun, he did it because he needed some money,” he said.

Mr Ross urged the court to give his client a chance in the community to prove he could finally go straight.

But jailing him for two years, Judge Euan Ambrose said: “The position here is that you are a repeat offender, a prolific repeat offender committing precisely this type of offence.

“This offence, bearing in mind the significant aggravating features, but also balancing the mitigation as well, is so serious that only an immediate custodial sentence can be justified.”

He also ordered Porter pay £5,000 in compensation after hearing he believed he was due that sum from the police for property they had seized and lost.

The list of bikes were a custom-built £4,000 Merida Warp, a £3,000 Giant Advantage SL, a Moda Immer hybrid bike worth £1,099 and a Merida Big Nine TFS 500-D mountain bike worth £800.