Prolific burglar Bradley Wernham found dead in field

  • Published
The shrine set up in Bradley Wernham's memory in Harlow
Image caption,

A shrine has been set up in Harlow in his memory

A prolific burglar who racked up hundreds of offences has been found dead in a field.

Police discovered the body of Bradley Wernham in Gilston, Hertfordshire, on 23 November.

Wernham was jailed for five years at the age of 19 for burglary, less than a year after a judge spared him prison when he admitted over 600 break-ins.

A shrine has been set up in tribute to the 27-year-old in his hometown of Harlow, Essex.

A missing person poster said Wernham had last been seen at a pub on 18 November.

Image source, Essex Police
Image caption,

Bradley Wernham was jailed in 2010 for five years

Police said the death was being treated as unexplained but not suspicious, and a file was being prepared for the coroner.

Wernham hit the headlines in 2009 when Judge Christopher Ball decided to put him on a rehabilitation scheme instead of in jail, which included giving him a rent-free flat.

You might also like:

He was given a three-year community order, a three-year supervision order, a night-time curfew and banned from entering Harlow.

But he broke the terms of the court order by trying to burgle a house in Witham three months later.

At the time, the judge said he had taken a "gamble" on him and blamed Wernham's "immaturity" for the rehabilitation scheme not working.