A burglar who stole hundreds of pounds of booze from two restaurants has been jailed after police found him drunk in a tent surrounded by bottles.
James Jackson, 35, broke into Rafaello in Bartholomew Square on October 19 and then Moshimo last Tuesday night, stealing cash and alcohol from both restaurants.
Both times he was caught on CCTV, and police recognised him. They could not find him after the first burglary, but after the second, they found him in a tent pitched in the square which he was known to be living in.
He was wearing the same clothes he had been seen wearing in the CCTV, and stolen items were in the tent.
On Thursday last week, he was jailed for four months at Brighton Magistrates Court by deputy district judge Cornelia Dykers.
Moshimo tweeted: “We had rather a horrid burglary on Tuesday night, but the burglar kindly stayed in the vicinity – very drunk on our stock.
“He appeared in court Thursday morning and was sentenced to four months.
“Huge thank you to Sussex Police who went above and beyond to be kind and helpful.”
Detective Sergeant Joanne Benton said: “Sussex Police understands the impact burglary has on victims not just financially, but the emotional impact through the loss of sentimental items and sense of violation.
“Tackling business crime is a key focus in Brighton and Hove and we carry out a significant amount of engagement work with residents and the business community to prevent crime and bring perpetrators to justice.
“Together with our partners in the Business Crime Reduction Partnership and Business Improvement District (BID), we have introduced a range of measures to make reporting crime easier, share intelligence and improve the quality of evidence gathering.”
Spend less on ugly tattoos and there’d be money left over to BUY all that booze.
I can’t believe I’m reading this. They could not find him after the first burglary. Yet he had pitched his tent in the square where the burglaries took place. He was obviously stupid to have carried them out so close to home, but weren’t the police even more so for not bothering to check the tent, which must have been only yards away? It’s like something out of an old Ealing comedy.
Why are these criminals in a city dependent on tourism allowed to live in the town centre in tents? It isn’t tolerated in any other City in the UK. A couple of months a children’s sex pest was allowed to live by the council for months in Brunswick Square, flashing at the kids and asking the mothers about their children and this criminal was allowed to terrorise business owners in the town centre. What on earth is wrong with the council and police in allowing random criminals to just doss up and live in tents in the town centre.
The City of Sanctuary. Not much os a sanctuary for the residents who pay their salaries.
Prison sentence first, and then he needs to work to pay back those he stole from, cover the prison expenses, and pay for the legal costs.