Shropshire man burgled ex-girlfriend's flat, court told

Jake Birch denies burgling the ground-floor flat in Redbank Road, Market Drayton, between July 21 and 22 last year.

On the first day of the hearing yesterday at Shrewsbury Crown Court, the jury heard that Birch, of Frogmore Road, Market Drayton, had been in a relationship with Lisa Marie Cowan which had ended in 2012.

Miss Cowan said Birch had stayed at her flat many times during their relationship and that he had gained entry to the flat by climbing in through the bathroom window on occasion as he didn't have a key.

She said: "He knew he could go in through the window. Usually he'd use the door, but if I was asleep he could use the window.

"It probably happened about eight or nine times over the relationship. I wouldn't let him in through the window now though."

Miss Cowan said that on July 21 she had done some cleaning around the flat before going out to spend the night with her boyfriend.

She returned home at 2.30pm the following day to find things had been moved around and other items were missing.

"I noticed the curtains had been shut in the front room but I'd left them open," she said.

"It looked like the front room had been used. There were crisp packets in the bin and the packet from the Bonjela, and the bathroom blind was half up.

"I went into the bathroom and realised the window had been left open. There was a muddy footprint in the bath and some items had been knocked off the windowsill."

Under cross examination Miss Cowan admitted she would never have expected Birch to enter her house. She said he had been there weeks earlier to watch a DVD and eat pizza.

Mr John Brotherton, prosecuting, said that investigators had found fingerprints inside the bathroom window which belonged to Birch.

The trial continues.