A DRUG addict has been jailed after committing more than 90 burglaries and attempted burglaries and stealing £280,000 worth of property.
Danny Lane, of The Beeches Mobile Home Park, in Old London Road, near Chipping Norton, pleaded guilty to 11 offences – but asked for a further 84 to be taken into consideration.
The 32-year-old carried out the crimes around Oxfordshire, Surrey and South London between 2010 and January this year.
His most recent string of offences were seven burglaries and four car thefts between October last year and May this year when he was arrested.
Jonathan Stone, prosecuting, told Oxford Crown Court that at the time Lane had been on temporary release from Spring Hill Prison, in Buckinghamshire, after receiving a three-year sentence in May 2011 – again for burglary.
On Friday he was sentenced to six years for the burglaries and attempted burglaries, as well as three months for not returning to prison.
Mr Stone said during the break-ins he helped himself to a range of items including laptops, wallets, iPods, passports and jewellery.
He added that at one house Lane stole property worth a total of £225,000, including a gold Cartier watch.
And at four of the houses he also took car keys and then stole vehicles from outside, the barrister said.
But Mr Stone added that Lane’s sentencing had been delayed because he wanted to tell the Metropolitan Police about his crimes in London.
James Burley, defending, told Judge Ian Pringle that his client had seen his father die in a “football riot” when he was just 14.
After that, the barrister said, Lane had fallen into drug abuse and had now been a heroin addict for many years.
Judge Pringle said he took into account that Lane had expressed remorse and had been honest with the police about the crimes he had committed.
He said to the defendant: “Without being too blunt about it, you have made a mess of your life so far.
“And that is no doubt because of the drug addiction you have been gripped by.
“When you are eventually released I hope that you will remind yourself that the damage you do by this offending is enormous. Your challenge when you are released is making sure you remain drug free for the rest of your life.”
The burglaries were committed overnight on January 24 at a house in Wharton Road, Headington; at a house in Henley Avenue, Iffley, on March 25; at a house in Headley Way, Headington, on April 10; at a house in Church Street, Chipping Norton, on April 13; at a house in Lidstone Road, Enstone, on April 29; at a house in South Newington on May 7; and in Churchill Road, Chipping Norton, on May 9.
One of his victims, a 36-year-old woman from Oxford who did not wish to be named, welcomed the sentence.
She said: “I feel sad for him as he’s clearly a desperate man who has had a difficult life, but hopefully he will now learn not to do it again.
“My husband and I were in our house at the time when we were burgled. I would not wish it upon anyone else.
“Justice has been done. I trust the system and think the punishment is fair and I now hope this does not happen to anyone else.”
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