A BURGLAR is behind bars after being caught by the fingerprints he left on a barber shop staff tips jar.
Serial criminal Karl Hogg raided Jimmy’s Barbers in Sunderland on January 10 and swiped eight pairs of hair clippers, worth £120 each.
Already serving a suspended sentence for a break-in at the Comrades Club in Houghton, the brazen 33-year-old cracked the TV in a failed bit to get it off the wall.
He even had the audacity to smash open the staff’s tip jar, which proved to be his downfall after the police were able to find a fingerprint and irrefutably prove he was the person responsible.
Hogg, of Sunderland Street, Houghton, denied burglary but was but was convicted by magistrates in South Tyneside last month.
On Tuesday (March 29), he appeared at Newcastle Crown Court and was jailed for 15 months.
PC Louise Edwards, of Northumbria Police, said: “Karl Hogg has had every opportunity to turn around his life and leave his criminal past behind him.
“He has proven to be a drain on police resources for some time, causing misery to businesses and residents alike as a result of his frequent and widespread offending. On this occasion, his greed got the better of him – and our fantastic forensic experts did the rest.
“There is no place for individuals like Hogg in our communities, and that’s why I’m pleased his latest offending has resulted in a custodial sentence. The residents of Houghton and Sunderland can sleep easier knowing he is in a prison cell.
“We will continue deal with burglars and thieves robustly, in order to ensure our region remains as safe as it possibly can be. We have a dedicated burglary team that reviews every break-in across Sunderland and South Tyneside, monitor trends and look to bring perpetrators to justice.
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“They also work closely with our neighbourhood teams who patrol problem areas and provide advice to residents and businesses. I’d like to thank the victims in this case for their cooperation, and by working together, we can continue to show a zero-tolerance approach to this type of criminality.”
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