A burglar from Hove has been jailed for a year after he pleaded guilty to a spate of break-ins in the town over the summer.
Muhammed Ahmed, 35, of Ingram Crescent West, Hove, was jailed at Brighton Magistrates’ Court yesterday (Wednesday 18 September) for eight burglaries.
He was also sentenced for having cocaine and breaching a conditional discharge for shoplifting in April.
The court was told that Ahmed broke into various shops, cafés, restaurants and businesses from June until just two weeks ago.
They included including Flowers Unlimited, in Portland Road, on Tuesday 11 June, Billies Café, in Goldstone Villas, on Sunday 16 June, and Harrisons of Hove, in Montefiore Road, on Tuesday 25 June.
He burgled the Artista Studio, in Waterloo Street, on Friday 5 July, and Le Nantais Bistro, Church Road, on Sunday 7 July.
He broke into Viksi Salon, in Victoria Terrace, on Tuesday 13 August, and the Art Shop and Pottery, in Western Road, on Monday 19 August.
And on Thursday 5 September Ahmed burgled Café Ninety, in Blatchington Road, Hove.
He stole cash, bottles of alcohol, electronic devices and other property from the businesses that he broke into as well as damaging their doors and windows to gain access.
Ahmed also breached a community order which was imposed last October for battery, having cocaine and failing to surrender to custody last August.
Detective Inspector Ian Still said: “Ahmed carried out a series of burglaries at businesses in Hove over the summer months which impacted on the community in this part of the city.
“We worked hard to investigate these offences along with help from the business community and members of the public and are pleased he is now behind bars.”
If he is in a council flat, does he get to keep it (left empty) til he serves & hets out in a measly 6 mths after wrecking all those poor traders lives?
One year (less the usual time off, which means he’ll be out by next Spring, for all that??) The police, let alone the victims and general public, must feel it’s hardly worth the bother of investigating, charging and bringing to trial pond-life like this. The system really is skewed in favour of the criminal, isn’t it (rhetorical).
Joke sentence again
I’m one of the traders who was affected and I went along to watch what happened. He was given a years sentence and yes he will sadly only serve six months inside. If in the following six months he puts a foot wrong like not engaging with drug rehab he will be straight back inside. During the following 12 months he will be under close supervision and again one foot wrong and he will be back in front of the Magistrates to explain why. What really annoyed me was the attitude of the probation service. Talk about gullible. He actually said in court that Ahmed had undergone a ‘damascene’ revelation over his offending and that the probation officer believed him. Thankfully the Magistrates were wise to this rubbish and gave the sentence they did.
Unfortunately the city is full of pathetic losers like Ahmed who are cosseted and are encouraged by the nanny agencies who pander to them. The end result of this and I am not the only one is that I will be taking my business and family out of the city as soon as possible. What was an interesting and diverse place has turned into a dirty, dangerous and unpleasant place to live and trade. I don’t want to be around when the dirty Brighton bubble bursts.
good luck to you – typical of this council is they seek to get extortionate rates and persecute businesses by searching through bins to see if they’ve deposited ‘commercial waste’ then try to enforce criminal type fines on them – meanwhile they allow people to ‘live’ in tents ‘scot free’, in the very same streets
Well said.
We moved out of Brighton & Hove 6 months ago to Lewes….. Best move we ever made.