Man jailed for burglaries in Milton Keynes

May, aged 46, of no fixed address, appeared in court last Monday. He pleaded guilty to one count of dwelling burglary and two counts of attempted dwelling burglary. At Monday’s sentencing, he was given 42 months’ imprisonment for the dwelling burglary offence and a further 36 months’ imprisonment each for the two attempted burglary offences. The sentences are all to run concurrently

The three offences took place overnight between 13 March and 5 April this year in Milton Keynes.

On March 13, May attempted to break into a house on Tamworth Stubb in Walnut Tree. The victim and his family, who live in Australia, have CCTV connected to their smartphones. On this occasion, the victim’s family alerted him that they had seen someone on the footage trying to break in.

The victim viewed the footage and at 1.59am he could see a man approaching the conservatory at the rear, trying the door handles and two sheds before leaving over the back fence.

On March 30, an occupant of a house on Marshalls Lane went to bed at around 9.30pm, having forgotten to lock the back door. He was woken up at 4.30am by the dog barking, and after going downstairs and outside with a torch he returned to find two laptops missing from the lounge. The victim had CCTV and could see a man going to the rear of the property before entering the rear lounge door.

At around 4.30am on April 5, an occupant of a house on Alpine Croft was woken up by their dog barking. He checked his CCTV and could see a man in the back garden looking through the windows of the dining room, lounge and kitchen, before trying the door to the utility room. He then jumped over the garden fence and onto a pathway.

Following the sentencing, police constable Steve King said: “Thanks to the CCTV footage that the victims were able to provide, we were able to swiftly investigate and identify May in these offences.

“Serial offenders like May think nothing of the emotional and psychological impact their actions can have on victims, and we hope today’s decision acts as a deterrent to others thinking of committing similar offences.”