A bungling burglar was caught out by a cat flap as his clumsy attempt to rob someone's home meant he was found out by a stranded feline.
Ex-heroin addict Glenn Foster, from Hull, East Yorkshire, managed to mess up the mechanism of the cat flap through his ham-fisted antics. Foster had a huge list of 164 previous offences, and gave himself away when the luckless cat that lived there was trapped outside in the cold and could not get back inside.
The occupier of the house soon realised that somebody must have burgled his home because he noticed that, unusually, his cat was outside that morning and was not safely snuggled up inside, Hull Live reports. Foster, 47, of Dane View, Dibsdane, Orchard Park estate, Hull, admitted burglary on May 31 last year at crown court.
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Rachel Scott, prosecuting, said that a man discovered at 9.30am that an iPad had gone missing from his Cottingham home, around two miles from Foster's home address, and that his cat was outside, which was unusual. The cat flap had been tampered with and the cat could not get back inside.
CCTV pictures showed that Foster was lurking about outside the house at 5am and that he had tried the door handle. He was seen walking away nine minutes later, carrying an item. Police later identified Foster from an image. The iPad had been bought for £309 in July 2021.
Foster was arrested and he made full admissions. He claimed that he found a window unlocked and opened it. He later dumped the iPad in a bush. He claimed that he "couldn't believe that he had done such a thing" as the burglary.
He had convictions for 164 previous offences, mostly for theft, and he was a third-strike burglar twice. He had been jailed for two years and nine months in March 2002 for burglary and had also been jailed for three years and 220 days in October 2003 for burglary.
He had been jailed for three years and 10 months in May 2008 for burglary and going equipped.
Ian Phillip, mitigating, said that there was limited damage and disturbance at the house and Foster made full and frank admissions. He claimed that he leaned in through a window and took items.
There had been a gap in Foster's offending and he had managed to deal with his heroin addiction. "There is a prospect of rehabilitation and no more offending with appropriate support," said Mr Phillip. There had been no more burglary offences. "It was a one-off return to the old days." Foster had not been "thinking straight" at the time after suffering a serious accident.
Judge John Thackray KC told Foster: "You invaded someone's house. You were in someone's house when they were there. That must have been extremely frightening.
"Some people never recover from dwelling house burglary. You did seem genuinely remorseful. It's serious, as all burglaries are."
Foster was given a two-year suspended prison sentence, six months' monitoring and 12 days' rehabilitation. "You should regard this as very much your last chance," said Judge Thackray.
As he left court, Foster said: "Thank you. Sorry."
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