Have-a-go hero overpowers burglar
Published: January 24, 2007
A brave have-a-go hero overpowered an armed burglar after waking in the middle of the night to discover the man crouching by his bed.
Joseph Green, 53, pinned the intruder down and forced a pair of scissors from his hand.
After disarming 20-year-old Steven Jones Mr Green then detained him until police arrived.
Jones, of Beverley Road, Marsh Green, was sentenced to three years and four months in jail for burglary at Liverpool Crown Court after admitting the offence.
Judge David Aubrey, QC, said there were aggravating features in the case and it was the fourth time Jones had been sentenced for breaking into homes.
The court was told Mr Green’s partner, Gaynor Tabb, had witnessed the terrifying incident and had been greatly alarmed.
Judge Aubrey said that sadly 58-year-old Mrs Tabb had died since the break-in in the early hours of June 3 last year and Mr Green said in a statement that the trauma of the burglary had not assisted her illness.
He said: “Those who commit burglaries at night cause fear and terror.”
The court earlier heard that Jones was able to creep into the couple’s home, also in Beverly Road, Marsh Green, in the early hours of June 3 last year because they had left the front door unlocked when they went to bed.
But when they later let police in they discovered Jones had secured the door after entering the house by putting the security chain across.
When Mr Green disarmed Jones he recognised him as a neighbour who lived in a flat in the same block.
Prosecutor
Andrew Carney said that when Mr Green asked Jones what he was doing there he replied: “hiding from some lads who want to kill me.”
When arrested Jones, who was on licence from a jail sentence for a similar offence, made no comment.
Amiot Vollenweider, defending, said the defendant had picked up a pair of scissors in Mr Green’s kitchen not intending to frighten the occupants, but to protect himself from the people from whom he was fleeing.
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