Would-be Telford burglar jailed for three years

Frankie Evans, 46, attacked Steven Minton after the former saw Evans in the garden of the Minton home in Telford, on the night of July 7 last year.

Mr Minton suffered a black eye in the assault and in a later witness statement he said: "I was absolutely terrified. I was really scared."

In making his escape, Evans also threw a pair of weights through the windows of the Mintons' car.

Evans, of Wyvern, Woodside, had pleaded guilty to criminal damage in relation to the car, but had denied attempted burglary and common assault, claiming he was in the garden because he was hiding from people and hit Mr Minton in self-defence.

Last week a jury rejected that explanation and found Evans guilty of the assault, attempted burglary and another charge of attempting to commit burglary relating to the Miners Arms pub in Madeley.

Earlier that same night Evans had tried to get into the pub through a window.

At the sentencing hearing on Tuesday, Evans' representative Rob Edwards said that the defendant had been addicted to class A drugs since the age of 21 and had committed crimes to feed the addiction.

'Detoxing'

He alluded to Evans' numerous past convictions for burglary and told the court: "Mr Evans is an experienced burglar... there is no suggestion that he was tooled up [on this occasion]."

His decision to try and burgle the Minton's home was a "spur-of-the-moment" one and he did not target them deliberately, he said.

Mr Edwards also said that Evans has made progress in "detoxing" his addiction and wants to develop skills and find employment in the future.

Judge Anthony Lowe said that even though Evans had suffered a wound in the violence at the Mintons' home, he had "created the situation" which led to that happening and so it did not mitigate his crime.

He also said that while Mr Minton's injuries were "relatively minor", the traumatic experience "will live with all of them for some time".

He sentenced Evans to 12 months in jail for attempting to burgle the Miners Arms and 21 months to run consecutively for attempted burglary at the Mintons' home.

For the assault, which he judged to be part of the same incident, he sentenced him to three months to run concurrently.

For the criminal damage to the car, he gave him three months to run consecutively – making a total sentence of 36 months.

After sentencing him, the judge urged Evans to change his ways and told him: "I think you have more to offer than simply burgling people's houses."