Burglar got job as a security guard

6:15pm Friday 23rd November 2007

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A CONVICTED burglar who was given a job as a security guard at an East Lancashire holiday village returned to raid the premises after being sacked.

Judge Andrew Gilbart QC, sitting at Preston Crown Court, expressed surprise that bosses at the Ribblesdale Park complex, Gisburn, had taken on Stephen Michael Wiwczaryk.

The 52-year-old, of Booth Street, Waterfoot, has 19 convictions for burglary and recently served a 30-month prison sentence for being concerned in the supply of class A drugs.

Jailing the defendant, who admitted theft and three charges of burglary, for 19 months Judge Gilbart said: "The fact that you were employed as a security guard, with your record, is a source of some astonishment to me."

Prosecutor Francis McEntee said security arrangement had now been tightened up at the holiday park, as was evident by the way Wiwczaryk had been caught.

The defendant was briefly employed as a security guard at the park but was sacked last summer after he was found sleeping in one of the lodges, when he was supposed to be working.

Some time later one of the camp's managers spotted suspicious activity in one of the lodges and, with a new security guard, Wiwczaryk was found lying on the floor of one of the lodges and he tried to run off.

He was detained after a short chase and the police were called.

He was searched and eventually was found to have keys to the site's offices, and at least five of the lodges.

Initially he tried to claim that he was simply seeking shelter in the lodges but he eventually confessed that he had intended to burgle the properties.

Timothy Ashmole, defending, said that the last conviction his client had for burglary, before the present offences, dated back to 1996.

Wiwczaryk had suffered problems with drink and drugs in the past but was now on a methadone programme as he had realised his life "was a mess", he told the court.

Mr Ashmole, pleading for a suspended sentence, added: "The progress he has made with his drug addiction indicates he is prepared to make efforts in the future."

But the judge said the defendant had shown a degree of criminality, in stealing keys from the holiday park to use later, and must serve an immediate custodial sentence.