Jail ends burglar’s reign of misery

A SERIAL burglar whose latest victims included two pensioners, was told he showed a total disregard for people whose lives he ruined, and he had “left a trail of unhappiness and misery” in his wake.

Robert Flynn (36), from Oldham, who has a criminal record going back to the age of 11, was jailed for three years and nine months by Recorder Roderick Carus QC, when he appeared at Manchester’s Minshull Street Crown Court. Flynn had pleaded guilty to offences of burglary, theft, handling stolen goods, and taking a vehicle without consent.

He was told: “You are too old and experienced to listen to a word I’m saying. You are a career criminal, and that is how you are being dealt with.”

Juliet Berry prosecuting, said that Flynn, of no fixed address, was caught for his most recent offences after himself falling victim to a “sting” type operation, in which a laptop computer had been deliberately placed in a parked car as a decoy.

Flynn fell for it, and was identified by CCTV footage which clearly showed him breaking into the vehicle in Ruck Street, Oldham.

The court was told that he was identified and traced to an address in Kelverlow Street, Oldham.

Subsequent inquiries, including a search of his then-home address, led to the discovery of the stolen laptop, which had been hidden under a bed, and the discovery of other offences.

Property recovered included keys and documents to a Ford Focus stolen in a burglary at Collier Hill, Oldham in mid June.

The car, along with a green Land Rover Freelander to which Flynn also had keys, were both found parked about half a mile from his address.

Ms Berry said when finally arrested, Flynn also had on him a torch and screwdriver, which had been stolen from the Focus.

The Freelander, said to have been worth around £1,100 had been stolen during a burglary in Counthill Road on June 17. Also taken were a flat-screen TV, and a mobile phone.

Flynn, who has 17 convictions for burglary, and five more for attempted burglary, was last jailed in 2009 for theft of a motor vehicle, and two years earlier he had been jailed for three years for house burglary.

Nicola Gatto, defending, said her client had been a drug user since his early teens, which had been responsible for most of his offending.

He had tried in recent times to keep to the straight and narrow, but gave way to temptation when he found he was not eligible for benefits for a while, and found it impossible to provide for his pregnant girl friend.

The court was told that the vast majority of stolen goods he was involved with, had been recovered, and there had been no direct confrontation with his victims.