Sunderland burglars jailed for terrorising families in crime spree

Liam Howden and Jack Locke went on a crime spree in Sunderland on 26 June

Two burglars who terrorised several families in one night have been jailed.

Liam Howden, 26, and Jack Locke, 20, went on a spree in Sunderland on 26 June, Newcastle Crown Court heard.

The pair took two cars from one house where there was a sleeping child, threatened a woman at another and beat a man with a bottle in front of his "petrified" elderly parents at a third.

They admitted multiple offences. Howden was jailed for nine years four months and Locke for eight years.

The pair, who both had previous convictions, first targeted a home on Grantham Road while a family of three were sleeping.

They entered through a faulty patio door and stole a 52in TV, sound bar, handbag and wallet as well as the fobs for two cars, the court heard.

'Terrified'

Both cars were then taken, with one found crashed into bollards outside a nearby pub a short while later, prosecutor Neil Pallister said.

The fobs were found hidden in a garden while police discovered bank cards secreted between Howden's buttocks when they conducted a strip search.

The father of the household said the burglary had had a "massive impact" on the family, adding he feared what would have happened if his two-year-old child had been confronted by the men.

Shortly after that burglary, the two men started banging on the door of a woman's home on Chester Terrace North.

The woman was in her bedroom and saw Locke trying to climb in through her top window.

He shouted at her to give him her car keys or he would kill her, the court heard.

The woman said she was "terrified" and feared he would carry out his threat, adding she was "now scared in [her] own home".

'Petrified'

Moments later, they were trying to break into another house when a neighbour shouted at them from his bedroom window to stop.

The pair turned to the man's home, smashed their way in through the front locked door and confronted the man and his elderly parents.

The three victims were forced into the living room where Howden repeatedly hit the man over the head with a vodka bottle, which eventually smashed.

Locke grabbed the woman by the throat at one point and shouted at the man's parents to give them their money or the robbers would cut their son's throat, the court heard.

They left with Howden carrying the mother's handbag, which contained her purse with £300 in it.

The court saw CCTV footage of her following him into the street and loudly begging him to leave her bag which he did after emptying its contents and taking the purse.

The woman said she had lived in the street for 56 years without incident but now felt she could no longer live there as she feared the criminals would return, adding she had been "petrified".

Her son, who was left with a cut on his neck and bruising on his back, said it was "horrible" and he felt guilty for not being able to protect his parents.

Both men were arrested at about 04:40 in a nearby alleyway.

'Utterly ashamed'

In mitigation for Howden, Tony Cornberg said he was in the grips of a Valium addiction at the time and he wanted to break his "cycle" of offending.

Mr Cornberg said Howden, of no fixed abode, was a qualified forklift driver and wanted to settle down and find a job.

Sue Hirst, for Locke, said the 20-year-old had an unstable life growing up in care and had serious mental health problems.

She said Locke, of Gladstone Street in Sunderland, was now drug-free and hoping to learn a trade such as brick-laying or plumbing so he could build a life with his young daughter.

Ms Hirst said in the "sober light of day" Locke realised how "frightening" his crime spree was for the victims, adding he was "utterly ashamed" and "devastated" by the distress he caused.

Locke himself asked the court if there was way for him to apologise to the victims, which Judge Gavin Doig said may be possible through a letter.

The men admitted offences including robbery, burglary, taking a vehicle without consent and assault causing actual bodily harm.

They also admitted stealing bottles of alcohol from Asda on Leechmore Road on 12 March after they snuck in through a staff entrance shortly after midnight.

Eight days later, Locke returned at about 03:30 BST wearing an old Asda uniform and stole more bottles of an unknown value.

Howden also admitted outraging public decency by urinating in the street during the 26 June spree.