Prison for burglar caught red-handed

Reporter: Court reporter
Date online: 17 March 2010

A HOMEOWNER bravely gave chase when he caught a burglar red-handed, coming out of his front door with goods he had just stolen.

Mohammed Iqbal and a friend he was with, pursued and then managed to overpower 45-year old Rodney McHugh, despite him brandishing a knife and threatening to stab them.

McHugh, of Tay Close, Oldham, later claimed he had found the door to the property on Pool Street already open, and simply took advantage.

Manchester’s Minshull Street Crown Court was told that he was on bail at the time, for an offence of handling stolen goods, when the incident happened last November.

Graham Robinson, prosecuting, said Mr Iqbal had returned home with a friend shortly before midnight, just as serial burglar McHugh was leaving the property.

They ran after him as he fled down the street, and McHugh threw some of the stolen items at them to slow them down.

Mr Robinson said however: “They continued to give chase, and bravely subdued him. They took him back to the house to await the arrival of the police.”

Only a month earlier, McHugh had been charged with handling stolen goods, following a break-in at an address on Kenyon Avenue, Oldham.

The court was told that electrical equipment worth around £1,000 was taken and when police officers executed a search warrant at his address, they found it in a red plastic bag inside a wheelie bin in his yard. The court was told that McHugh who is married with children, had struggled with drug problems throughout his whole adult life and had a lengthy criminal record including 11 previous convictions for burglary.

He was jailed for three years and four months after pleading guilty to charges of handling and burglary.

Judge Adrian Smith said: “There are serious matters set against a serious criminal record, and driven by a serious drug addiction.

“The handling offence involved a lot of property that found its way into your hands within hours of being stolen.

“You then went on to commit this burglary while still on bail.

“You then produced a knife and threatened to stab your pursuers — the sort of act that is alarming people across the country.

“I have no choice but to pass a custodial sentence to punish you — and to deter others.”