A burglar has been jailed for more than three years after carrying out two high-value break-ins in Poulton-le-Fylde and Preston.
Jamie Higginson burgled a flat above a restaurant in Poulton in April last year, which was used to store the restaurant’s alcohol, stealing hundreds of bottles valued around £5,000.
He was arrested for that burglary after attempting to sell bottles of alcohol to a member of the public in a supermarket carpark.
Unfortunately for Higginson, the man he was offering the alcohol for sale to, was an off-duty police chief inspector who called in colleagues to make the arrest.
In February this year, Higginson burgled Harlequin Games, Manchester Road, Preston, a shop which specialises in the sale of rare playing cards and gaming merchandise.
A side window was smashed to gain entry and stock valued between £20,000 and £30,000 was taken.
Higginson had been in the shop a few days earlier and been verbally abusive to a member of staff.
As he left the shop, Higginson kicked the door and dislodged it from the frame, also damaging a window.
Higginson, 28, of no fixed address, appeared for sentence at Preston Crown Court last week (15th April) after pleading guilty to burglary of a dwelling – the flat in Poulton-le-Fylde – burglary of Harlequin Games, and criminal damage.
The judge jailed him for a total of three years and one month and made him subject of a restraining order which bans him from attending Harlequin Games.
PC Ryan Wilson of Preston Police, said: “Higginson targeted a home and businesses of good, hard-working people when he committed these burglaries.
“The 37-month prison sentence shows how seriously the court viewed his offending.
“I would like to thank the support of the Lancashire public for their engagement when Higginson was circulated as wanted earlier this year.”
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