A “ONE-MAN crime wave” who targeted the residents of Barrowford in one night has been locked up for 22 months.
Burnley Crown Court heard how Carl Moore burgled the home of a couple of pensioners and a summer house with a teenage accomplice. But he then carried on stealing on his own, attacking eight garages to steal bikes and stealing from a car.
Police found stolen cycles, some of them high value and probably Christmas or birthday presents, all over the village. Moore had thrown one bike in the canal, prompting a judge to slam his actions as “nasty, mean and despicable.”
Moore, who had only finished a night-time curfew two weeks before, was joined in raiding and ransacking the house by skunk cannabis addict Stephen Crawford, who was two months out of jail. The pair helped themselves to keys, a digital camera and mobile phone before smashing a window at a summer house and taking two expensive bikes.
Moore (23), of Dover Street, Nelson, and Crawford (19), of Heath Street, Burnley, admitted two counts of burglary on August 15th. Moore asked for nine offences, eight of them garage burglaries, to be considered. Crawford was sent to detention for 17 months.
Miss Sarah Statham (prosecuting) said police got reports of two males in Barrowford and when they arrived at 5 a.m., two burglaries had been committed.
Officers found the defendants pushing bikes and with the haul taken from the house. The prosecutor continued: “They came across other bikes scattered around the area. At least one bike was dumped in the canal.”
Miss Statham said both defendants were arrested and questioned. Crawford made no comment. Moore claimed he had been a lookout. Both had records for burglary. The house burglary victims had trouble sleeping afterwards.
For Moore, Mr Bob Elias said quite clearly he had issues and needed help. He was naive, gullible and easily led.
The barrister added: “He needed bits for his bicycle. That seems to have been the motivation for his part on these offences.”
For Crawford, Mr James Heyworth said he was capable of offence-free periods. He knew only a sentence of imprisonment could be passed.
Mr Heyworth continued: “He isn’t a standard burglar. He is not regularly going into occupied dwellings and stealing to feed his habit.”
Sentencing, Judge Beverley Lunt told the pair burglary was a devastating crime and should never be underestimated. She said: “Anybody who burgles somebody’s home at night has to have the brain to understand it disturbs them for years.”
Judge Lunt told Moore: “You were a one-man crime wave that night and you must be stopped.”