A three-strikes burglar has been spared the minimum sentence provisions as the previous break-ins on his record are of some age.

Durham Crown Court heard that Liam Blakey committed past burglaries in 2002, 2003 and most recently in May 2008.

Since then most of his offending was said to have been low-level “scruffy” petty thefts of the kind committed by a drug user seeking to pay for his addiction

But, late on June 17 this year, Blakey entered a house in Ferryhill where the occupants had forgotten to lock their front door before going to bed.

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Blakey took advantage, committing a so-called “two-in-one” burglary where the keys to the residents’ Audi A4 were removed, along with two handbags and their contents, plus a pair of sun glasses.

Ian West, prosecuting, said Blakey used the key to unlock the Audi, parked outside, enabling him to remove a rucksack from the vehicle before leaving the scene.

He returned a couple of hours later and used the keys to get into the car which he drove for a short distance before abandoning it up the road.

Mr West said Blakey was identified from cctv from a nearby property to the burgled house as he looked directly at the camera.

On his arrest the sun glasses were recovered, but the handbags, said to be worth £320, remain outstanding.

When Blakey was interviewed he largely gave “no comment” replies and denied it was him on the cctv.

But at a previous hearing at the court, on July 25, the 40-year-old defendant, previously of Hallgarth Terrace, Ferryhill, admitted burglary, theft, taking a vehicle without the owner’s consent, driving without insurance and without a licence.

His counsel. Tony Davis, told the previous hearing that while he accepted it is only in “pretty exceptional circumstances” that three-strike burglars who commit a further similar crime avoid receiving the mandatory three-year prison sentence, his client was someone who needs assistance to “break the cycle” of serving custodial sentences, being released and then committing further crime.

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Judge James Adkin agreed to adjourn passing sentence for a Probation Service updated report on Blakey, who remained in custody in the meantime.

On the return of the case to court, Mr Davis repeated that the defendant has, “expressed a motivation” to work with agencies to rid himself of his drug habit.

But having been told the defendant has no fixed address to go to should he have been released, Judge Adkin said by passing a non-custodial sentence on Blakey, “I would only be setting him up to fail.”

He agreed, however, to pass a much lower sentence than the usual three-years for a three-strikes-plus burglar, due to the length of time since the defendant's last such offence.

Judge Adkin imposed a 13-month prison sentence for the burglary with no separate sentence for the remainder of the offences admitted by the defendant.

Read next:

              * Teenager banned from parts of Ferryhill after burglary and arson charges

              * Jail for Ferryhill burglar who climbed into stranger's home

              * 'Habitual burglar' went on crime spree in Ferryhill in County Durham

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