Distraction Burglary Sentencing
Nottingham criminal solicitor and Higher Courts Advocate Phil Plant recently persuaded a Nottingham Crown Court judge to suspend sentence in a case of distraction burglary prepared by Crown Court litigator Siobhan McGuinness.
Our client faced a serious allegation of burglary. Although she had pleaded guilty
to the offence at the first Crown Court hearing, there had been some delay. She had been part of a group of people travelling in a car. Upon coming to a remote farmhouse the car appeared to break down.
Distraction Burglary
The elderly occupier of the address came out and offered assistance. She allowed the male driver into her house. Our client then arrived at the door. She was pregnant at the time, and asked for a glass of water. She then complained about the water and asked for a second glass. This distraction allowed the male complainant to remove a laptop from the address.
Phil’s client was linked to the address by a fingerprint recovered from the glass she had used.
Distraction burglaries of this type are likely to be treated very seriously by the courts. There is an inevitable betrayal of trust, the victim if often vulnerable and there is always a meeting between burglar and victim.
Two Year Sentence Suspended
Phil properly recognised these aggravating features in his address to the judge. He also properly set out what mitigation was available to her. The most significant of this was that between the arrest and her charge his client had given birth to her child, and this fact had made her re-evaluate her priorities.
His Honour Judge Sampson was persuaded to impose a suspended sentence for this distraction burglary. Having taken the view that the offence was worth 3 years after a trial the Learned Judge was prepared to suspend a 2 year prison sentence for 24 months.
Contact Us
It is important that you instruct an advocate who is able to judge the likely effect of plea and mitigation on your eventual sentence. If you wish to speak to Phil about a case then please telephone him on 0115 9599550 or Siobhan on 01332 546818. Alternatively you can email them here.
