Oswaldtwistle jobless burglar takes up kickboxing and avoids jail (From Lancashire Telegraph)

Oswaldtwistle jobless burglar takes up kickboxing and avoids jail

1:29pm Monday 18th March 2013 in News

A NEW dad who raided the house next door was spared jail – after a court heard he had taken up kick boxing.

Burnley Crown Court was told how jobless Peter McCauley, 20, seemed to be growing up and the kick boxing was instilling a sense of discipline in him.

McCauley, who has a 10-month-old son, had been strapped for cash when he had taken a screwdriver for the planned, early evening attack on the empty Oswaldtwistle property next door to his girlfriend’s home.

He had removed a haul including mirrors, shelving, light fittings, towel rails, pictures and a pasting table.

The defendant, of Rhyddings Street, Oswaldtwistle, could have ended up behind bars, but escaped after a judge said there were now a lot of positives in his life.

McCauley admitted burglary at the New Lane property last July. He was given 11 months in detention, suspended for 18 months, with supervision.

Nigel Booth, prosecuting, said neighbours saw the defendant in the back yard. The owner found the kitchen window had been smashed. She made inquiries next door and recovered the stolen property.

The defendant told police he had been helping someone else who had a right to be in the premises. His fingerprints were found on the inside of the window frame.

McCauley had been the subject of community orders at the time.

Darren Lee-Smith, for McCauley, said: “The defendant offers the court no real explanation for his involvement in this offence.

“All he can say is financial difficulties following the cessation of his benefits led him wrongly to seek money in other areas and he clearly took the wrong decision on this occasion.”

He said he had since taken up kick boxing and said: “It is helping him in controlling his temper and instilling a sense of discipline.”

Sentencing, Recorder William T C Smith told McCauley his supervising officer had noticed an improvement in his attitude.

He said: “You have taken up kick boxing and are also looking for work. All these matters are positive.”