Painter and decorator jailed for stealing expensive jewellery from Shropshire home he was working on

Andrew Owen took advantage of doors being left open at the property in Whittington to sneak inside while the owners were home and take gold bracelets and rings worth an estimated £5,000.

The 37-year-old then sold most of the jewellery to a dealer in Ellesmere for a paltry £115 to fund his drug addiction, with other items sold on the market in the town.

Shrewsbury Crown Court heard Owen, of Perry Road, Gobowen, also stole a mobile phone and drill from a building site he was working on in Neenton, near Bridgnorth, on June 10 last year, four days after the burglary.

He pleaded guilty to burglary, two charges of theft and one count of fraud at a previous court hearing and appeared at Shrewsbury to be sentenced.

The court heard Owen had a long criminal record, with 16 previous convictions for 42 offences, and that it was the seventh house he had burgled in 13 years.

Mr Stephen Scully, for Owen, said his client had found himself using Class A drugs again after a period of nearly a year being clean.

He said: "For around eight or nine months he was drug free and managed to gain employment, despite a record with offences of dishonesty.

"Unfortunately local people started offering him free drugs, trying to get him addicted again.

"He succumbed to temptation. He ended up owing them money, which was initially paid for through his work and his habit was managed that way.

"As time went on it spiralled and he had to find money somehow. He accepts he caused the owners of the house great distress and is genuinely remorseful."

Owen was sentenced to a total of three-and-a-half years in prison.

Judge Robin Onions said: "You have a pretty poor record.

"It seems clear to me you have had problems for many years with an addiction to drugs.

"You resort to dishonesty to fund your addiction to drugs.

"Here you are again, committing another offence of burglary. You were employed as a painter and decorator with people you knew who trusted you.

"You decided to go into the house when you were not allowed to try and steal.

"What is clear is that jewellery with sentimental value was stolen and it was sold by you on the market and elsewhere. Some has still not been recovered and the loss is permanent.

"Make the best of prison and give yourself a chance when you come out - go on like this and you are going to spend a lot of your life locked up.

"There has got to be a better life for you and the victims of your crimes."