A skilled cat burglar who raided 79 premises in 10

A skilled cat burglar who raided 79 premises in 10
weeks learned his ‘trade’ from a prison course on
mountaineering, a court heard today (Tuesday).

Homeless Neil Fletcher, 28, who was jailed for three
years after admitting five burglaries and 74 similar offences,
was ‘a very good burglar,’ said prosecutor Ms Susie Castle.

‘He was able to get through locked windows, barred
windows and windows on the first floor,’ she said.

Southwark Crown Court heard that Fletcher, of no fixed
address, was taken into care when he was five.

‘His parents seemed to have totally disregarded him,’
said Mr Anthony Korda, defending.

‘He left care when he was 18 with no contact with his
parents and no friends.

‘He seems to have resorted to his one and only trade
which he has demonstrated an ability for.

‘The only thing prison has done for him was that he went
on a mountaineering course, which taught him how to gain entry
to premises.

‘
Mr Korda said Fletcher, who has a long criminal history
and twice escaped from jail, was ‘an old fashioned criminal’ who
never intended to hurt anyone.

He stole only small amounts of cash from luxury homes in
the Eton Square, Belgravia and Westminster areas, leaving behind
valuable antiques.

‘It was petty larceny to support himself on a daily
basis,’ said Mr Korda.

Fletcher committed the 79 offences after absconding from
Lincoln prison during a four-day home leave between September 16
and 20, 1991.

He was arrested on November 29, 1991, minutes after
climbing through a first floor window into the bedroom of Mrs
Maria Lobo’s luxury Eton Square home.

Mrs Lobo, 25, awoke to find Fletcher at the end of her
bed.

‘Who is it.

What do you want,’ she said, terrified.

Ms Castle said: ‘Mr Fletcher was just as afraid as she
was and he climbed out of the window’.

Police stopped him on a nearby street and during an
interview he made frank admissions to all his crimes.

Recorder Nicholas Jones jailed Fletcher for three years,
saying: ‘You are a professional criminal.

You have been before the
courts on many previous occasions.

‘I accept that you tried to minimise any damage to the
premises you entered and that some occupiers were not aware that
they had been burgled.

‘But distress is caused by burglary regardless of
whether any damage is caused.

‘Having regard to the number of incidents, the only
course I can adopt is an immediate custodial sentence.

‘
One of the homes Fletcher raided was the Master’s House
at Temple, from which he stole just pds stlng 50, ignoring
numerous valuable antiques and paintings.

ENDS