A BURGLAR with a 'shocking' criminal record who left a mother and daughter terrified as he ransacked one of their flats has been jailed.

Ben Malpas let himself into the building before stealing more than £1,000 worth of goods and fleeing the scene.

The mother and daughter called 999 and screamed at him to get out after they heard him rummaging around upstairs in the younger woman’s flat.

Teesside Crown Court heard how the pair lived separate flats at the house on Yarm Lane, Stockton, which had been left insecure following a police raid days earlier.

Jenny Haigh, prosecuting, said: “They heard banging coming from upstairs and it sounded like there was only one person trashing the flat.

“They were both screaming at the person to leave the flat and that the police were on the way.

“The defendant continued to bang about, ignoring the requests to leave. The banging stopped and they were frightened.”

Miss Haigh said council CCTV operators had captured Malpas leaving the property with the stolen goods after they were alerted by their 999 call.

The defendant was arrested nearby and all the goods were recovered.

She told the court that the police raid was connected to a previous occupant of the flats and nothing to do with the mother and daughter currently living there.

In a victim impact statement, the mother she had been left feeling vulnerable following the burglary.

And her daughter said the burglary had left her feeling unsafe in her own home and she ‘no longer wanted to leave the house’.

Malpas, of Hartington Road, Stockton, pleaded guilty to burglary and possession of a Class B drug following his arrest for the raid on December 29 last year.

Dr Christopher Wood, in mitigation, said his client had endured a difficult 18-months following the death of two of his brothers and losing his job during the Covid pandemic.

He added: "He is extremely remorseful and apologetic for his actions – he behaved stupidly; he behaved irrationally; and he behaved in such a fashion that would have been undoubtedly terrifying for those two women.”

Recorder Richard Thyne sentenced Malpas to 15 months in custody for his latest offence and for breaching a conditional discharge when he was caught as a trespasser.

“You have a shocking record of previous convictions for 119 offences now,” he said. “You were a frequent burglar in your younger days and after that you got a huge number of convictions for shoplifting.

“You went to prison for drug dealing in 2007 and then began shoplifting again on a regular basis. In 2016 there were two convictions for burglaries for which you received a 32-month prison sentence.”

The judge added: “They are both terrified and feel unsafe in their own homes; one of them suffering panic attacks and feeling really vulnerable - that is the affect that burglary of people’s homes have on them.”

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