A serial burglar has been jailed after he broke into a hotel and rifled through the bar in search of cash and booze, then attacked the night porter who confronted him.
Martin Alan Wilson, 38, was on bail when he forced his way through the locked front door of the Croft Spa Hotel in the early hours of May 6, Teesside Crown Court heard.
After forcing his way inside – damaging the door frame in the process – Wilson went straight to the bar area where he used a chisel to try to smash the till open. He stole almost £200 of alcohol, a Samsung Galaxy tablet and a drinks caddy.
Prosecutor Imogen Eastham-Brown said that Wilson also tried to steal the staff tips jar but was then confronted by the hotel’s night manager as he poured alcohol into the drinks caddy.
The porter tried to stop him escaping but Wilson, who was still holding the drinks caddy, barged past him and fled the hotel.
Ms Eastham-Brown said that Wilson took £195 of alcohol and the tablet was worth between £500 and £1,000.
About an hour-and-a-half after the burglary at the hotel on Northallerton Road, Croft-on-Tees, Martin and another man broke into the Jet garage on Carmel Road South in Darlington by smashing through the front door.
During the break-in, at about 2.30am, Wilson stole a till containing £100 and took £200 from a safe, as well as cigarettes, alcohol, vapes and confectionery. The items were worth about £3,000 in total. They also took keys to the doors and fuel pumps.
Ms Eastham-Brown said it cost the fuel station between £2,000 and £3,000 to replace the locks.
Wilson – who has over 250 offences on his record – was arrested six days later but refused to be interviewed by police. He was remanded in custody.
The break-ins followed Wilson’s arrest for the theft of a vehicle and a previous attempted burglary in June and October last year respectively.
On June 30, at about 4.30am, Wilson and two other men turned up at an address on Coniscliffe Road, Darlington, on mountain bikes. They used tools to break into the owner’s Land Rover Defender parked outside.
The vehicle’s anti-theft pedal lock prevented them from driving off in the Land Rover, so they left and returned with more tools which enabled them to remove the lock. Wilson then hot-wired the vehicle to get it started and drove off.
The Land Rover was found abandoned, believed to be the following day, in Redcar, but with £1,650 of damage to the interior and exterior.
On October 28, at about 10.30pm, Wilson and another man turned up on a moped at the Clearance Bargains shop in Valley Street North, Darlington, where they tried to break in by forcing a back toilet window from an alleyway but failed to get in.
Wilson, from Darlington but of no fixed address, was arrested the following day and pithily told officers: “I’m going back to prison.”
He refused to name the other man involved in the break-in, said Ms Eastham-Brown.
Wilson, who has 79 previous convictions, was ultimately charged with two counts of burglary, attempted burglary and vehicle theft. He admitted the offences and appeared for sentence via video link today (July 16) at Teesside Magistrates’ Court, sitting as Teesside Crown.
Ms Eastham-Brown said that of Wilson’s previous 255 offences, some 167 were for theft and kindred dating back to 1998. His record also comprised five offences against the person, assault and previous burglaries.
His barrister Tabitha Buck said simply: “His only mitigation is his credit (for his guilty pleas).”
Judge Laird KC, the Recorder of Middlesbrough, told Wilson: “For someone with your antecedent history, only an immediate custodial sentence is appropriate.”
Wilson was jailed for 19 months.
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