Radford burglar jailed under three strikes rule

[dutchman]

A house burglar from Coventry has been jailed under the ‘three strikes’ rule for repeat offenders.



Christopher Cronan, 20, of Capmartin Road, Radford, was part of a gang who broke into a student nurse’s flat in Brays Lane, Stoke, in June.

Coventry Crown Court heard they searched the flat before putting a laptop in a holdall, but left it in the garden in a hurry when the victim came home and disturbed them.

Cronan was identified by a fingerprint left at the scene.

Cronan, who admitted one count of burglary, was jailed for three years under the ‘three strikes’ rule for serial offenders, minus seven months as a credit for his guilty plea.

But sending him down with a flea in his ear, Judge Richard Griffith-Jones told Cronan: “I want you to remember what it would be like for someone coming home and finding a group of young men in their home.

“They are both angry and frightened.

“Then I want you to think about being a student nurse and how much money she gets, or doesn’t get, for doing a really important job.

“I want you to think about how much works she has to do, how much she would need her laptop to do all sorts of projects, how long it would take for her to afford a new one, and how much her insurance would go up.

“I want you to think about that while you are in custody.”

David Murray, defending, said Cronan had got “mixed up” with the wrong crowd and wanted to change his ways.