A RECOVERING drug addict has been jailed after he was found by police in a pensioner’s garden equipped for burglary.
Carl Bailey, of Hanson Lane, Lockwood, claimed he was visiting a friend when police found him in a garden in Mount Pleasant, Lockwood, at midnight on October 22 last year.
But police checks revealed Bailey was not known to the elderly resident and a subsequent search of the garden discovered a metal hammer in the flower beds.
He was later found guilty at trial by Huddersfield Magistrates’ Court.
Bailey, 30, appeared before Bradford Crown Court yesterday and was sentenced for going equipped for burglary. Prosecutor Abigail Langford told the court: “The occupant heard knocking on the door. He shouted ‘Who is there?’ then heard a further knock on the back door.
“He shouted further ‘What do you want?’ But nobody answered him.
“He then pressed his Kirklees care button but police officers had already been dispatched to a neighbouring property to a disturbance.”
She said when Bailey was questioned at the scene he claimed he knew the occupier of the address, refused to give his name and seemed to be ‘evasive’ to police.
The court heard Bailey was four months into a 12-month suspended sentence for two counts of burglary committed in 2010 when the later offence was committed.
Defence solicitor Nicky Peers said:
“At the time of this offence he was trying to make good his life.”
She said the offence was a ‘blip’ in his recovery given his dependency on Class A drugs since he was 16.
But Judge Jonathan Rose told Bailey in the dock : “You are a man of 30 years of age. You have been before the courts on a number of occasions in the past and you have served time in custody.
"The court gave you a chance. Any supervision takes time to kick in but you are a man of mature years. You would have known that to indulge in burglary is a serious offence.”
He sentenced Bailey to nine months for the remainder of the suspended sentence and 10 months for the offence of going equipped for burglary to run consecutively.
