Burglar who ransacked family home during £4,400 raid has prison term extended

And Jamie Lonsdale, 41, was told that if he continues to break into people’s homes then he could expect to be put behind bars for five-year stretches in future.

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Burnley Crown Court heard that the Turner family left their house in Newchurch Road, Bacup, to attend a relative’s barbecue and returned to find a stone had been thrown through the kitchen window.

Each room in the property had been searched, said prosecutor Stephen Parker, with evidence of ransacking in one of the bedrooms.

Jewellery, cash and laptop computers were taken during the incident and the intruders used pillow cases to take the stolen property away.

Mr Parker said that a footwear impression was taken from within the crime scene and this was later used to provide a match with a pair of Lonsdale’s trainers.

Last August Lonsdale was jailed for 38 months after he was caught breaking into a house in nearby Olive Street, with two accomplices.

Judge Beverley Lunt said that if the Newchurch Road break-in had been dealt with last autumn, he could have expected a tariff of three years.

The judge imposed an eight-month term on Lonsdale, of no fixed address, after he pleaded guilty to burglary. This would take his release date to September, the court heard.

Jailing him, Judge Lunt said: “The next time you appear in the dock I would have thought that anyone would start sending you to prison for five years. You need to leave this alone.”

Claire Thomas, defending, said that the only thing that could be asked on the defendant’s behalf is that any custodial term would not result in him remaining behind bars for very much longer.

His criminal offending record had slowed down in recent years and he knew he needed to change his attitude soon.

The court heard that Lonsdale already qualified for minimum three-year terms, having already been convicted for carrying out three straight domestic burglaries within the past 10 years.