Man sentenced over burglary offences in Rochdale

Date published: 19/09/2007

A 35-year-old Rochdale man has been sentenced to six months in prison at Bolton Crown Court.

Andrew Green, (born 29/04/72), of Croxton Avenue, Belfield, pleaded guilty to two burglaries, an attempted burglary and going equipped to steal in Rochdale on Tuesday 28 August 2007.

On Tuesday 3 April 2007, he was seen acting suspiciously by a number of local residents in the Belfield area.

Police attended and found Green in possession of a screwdriver and a wrench and he was arrested on suspicion of going equipped.

Green also had a mobile phone on him, which had been stolen a short time earlier from Belfield Primary School. A number of letters from an address on Belfield Road were also found down his trouser leg, which had been stolen from the mailbox.

Inquiries revealed that Green had been responsible for two burglaries and an attempted burglary that day.

At 11am a cleaner at Belfield Primary School arrived at work and hung his jacket up within the building, leaving his mobile phone and cigarettes in the pocket.

The school was closed at the time to the public.

At about 12pm a staff member saw Green acting suspicious outside Saxon Hall College on the other side of the road. A few minutes later he walked into the school and asked the staff member where the builders were before walking away.

The cleaner finished work at about 1pm and after picking up his jacket realised that his cigarettes and phone had gone.

He informed the staff member the next day who immediately thought about Green acting suspicious. She viewed the CCTV, which showed him trying to get in a number of doors and peering into a builders van.

A short time after the burglary at the school on Tuesday 3 April 2007, the owner of a house on Waterside Lane saw Green walking down his pathway towards his garage.

He told his grandson who went to the window and saw Green try to get into the garage. He went outside and confronted him and after a brief discussion Green walked away.

Around this time a woman saw Green walking up the driveway of a house on Croxton Avenue and try the front door handle, before walking to the back of the address. He re-appeared about five minutes later before doing the same at the house next door.

The woman called police and while waiting for officers to arrive saw Green try the door handle of another house nearby.

Officers attended and found Green on Croxton Avenue. They immediately noticed a wrench hanging out of his jacket pocket and arrested him on suspicion of going equipped.

He was sentenced yesterday on Tuesday 18 September.