A POLICE officer leaving home for work in the early hours found a burglar in his back yard, a court heard.
The Greater Manchester Officer had been setting off at 5-50 a.m. when he spotted a pair of legs sticking out of his outhouse. He challenged the intruder, who turned out to be prolific crook Kevin Pearson and who was said to have been lying down and “trying to get some rest” at the property in Colne, Pennine magistrates were told.
Pearson had a pillowcase filled with items that the victim had put in bags ready for a charity shop and a rucksack, glove, trolley and torch were seized from him by police.
The defendant, of Lower School Street, Colne, who has almost 150 convictions, admitted burglary with intent to steal and possessing amphetamine, on January 3rd. He was given a two month curfew, seven days a week, between 7 p.m. and 7 a.m.
Mr Andrew Robinson (prosecuting) said the outhouse had no doors and the officer had put some property in bags in it, ready to take to a charity shop.
He found most of the bags had been ripped open and various things taken from them. A hairdryer and a mobile phone were in the pillowcase. The victim called his colleagues from Lancashire Police, Pearson was arrested and when he was in custody, amphetamine was found on him. The defendant had 142 previous convictions, of which 52 were for theft and related offences and was last sent to jail in November.
Mr Richard Taylor, for Pearson, said he had been out in the rain in the early hours, had gone into the back yard to shelter, saw the doors were off the outhouse and conceded he had a look around and gathered some things together.
The solicitor continued :” They were of low value. They weren’t taken because he was lying down trying to get some rest when he was found by the owner.”
Mr Taylor told the Bench the defendant had been in custody overnight and added: “I ask you to accept this man is not dangerous. He merely, and I use the word carefully, scavenges for what he can.”