He is jailed after claiming crime spree was caused by effects of illegal prescription drugs after a drug supplier threatened him and his family
A drug-addled burglar who invaded three homes in five days while he claimed to be under threat from a dealer is behind bars today.
Wayne Paul Cuthbert said he sought solace in illegal prescription drugs after a drug supplier threatened him and his family.
The drugs and their side-effects were the 32-year-old's excuse for a crime spree where he stole belongings from three homes in Stockton.
First he broke into a home on Durham Road, in the Newham Grange area, while the occupier was out and stole electrical goods including a phone, tablet computer and DVD player.
He moved keys as he tried doors in the property on April 28, less than a year after he was released from prison.
His blood was found in the home, right from the smashed back window where he came in, Teesside Crown Court heard.
Then he stole a phone from a home on Firtree Road, in the same area, between April 30 and May 2.
The woman who lived there didn’t realise she’d been burgled, said prosecutor Emma Atkinson.
She was left scared, worried and concerned as her 16-year-old daughter was in at the time.
Police found the stolen phone at Cuthbert’s home when he was arrested for other offences on May 2.
That day he also burgled a home on The Avenue, Stockton, and took £280 cash.
At first Cuthbert, of Norton Road, Norton, denied being responsible and claimed one of the victims was lying.
He later pleaded guilty to two of the burglaries and asked for the third to be taken into account.
With previous burglary convictions in 2001 and 2012, he faced a three-year minimum sentence in the “third strike” case.
Duncan McReddie, defending, said: “He would, given the opportunity, willingly apologise to those people whose home he’s burgled.
"He knows how serious the matter is. He is genuinely sorry.”
He told how Cuthbert managed to lead a law-abiding life with a home and a methadone programme since he got out of prison.
“Then an individual to whom he owed large amounts of money for previous supplies of drugs moved in nearby,” said Mr McReddie.
“He started to receive threats. The threats started to extend to his family.
“He resorted to the consumption of illegal prescription drugs to relieve himself from the bleakness of his situation.
“It is while subject to those Class C drugs that he committed these offences.” He added the drugs had “distorting and dangerous effects”.
Judge Tony Briggs told Cuthbert they were daytime burglaries with a 16-year-old girl alone in one of the homes.
Giving him a discount for his guilty pleas, he jailed Cuthbert for 876 days - about two years and seven months.
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