Thursday, February 05, 2015

Police followed trail of coins to find Peppa Pig piggy bank thief

A burglar stole a child's piggy bank and was jailed after police followed a trail of coins leading to him. Jamie Norton, 35, broke into a sleeping family's home and snatched the Peppa Pig money box. A court heard how he dropped the money box in the street, spilling the children's pocket money. And police were able to follow coins all the way to the doorstep of the house where he was trying to hide out.

Norton was arrested and hauled in front of a court where he admitted burglary and was jailed for 18 months. His victim, mother-of-three Leanne Barratt, told the court she wanted to move because she no longer felt "secure" in her home. In a statement she told the court: "He has violated not just me but my whole family. I don't feel that I can sleep because I need to protect my family." Leanne, her husband Lee and their three children, the youngest just nine months old, slept through the burglary in January this year.



Norton stole handbags, credit cards, phones, a tablet, and even two children's money boxes from the house in Tonypandy near Pontypridd, Wales. Merthyr Tydfil Crown Court heard how he drove off from the scene in the family's car. Officers tracked him to his girlfriend's house where he had taken the stolen goods and found coins in the street outside. Police officers looked through the window and spotted the money box sat on the table and Norton was then arrested.

Norton, of Pontypridd, also admitted driving while disqualified, driving without insurance and taking a vehicle without consent. He was banned from the roads for six months. Judge Thomas Crowther QC told him: "Burglary is a crime against people not just property. Parents have been left with the worry of trying to reassure their children and their own security. It has changed their attitude towards their home."

3 comments:

Barbwire said...

Was he actually sentenced to jail? It seems to me that the Brits let people off who would be jailed anywhere else.

arbroath said...

He was jailed for 18 months, Barbwire.

Anonymous said...

Generally, jail just breeds more criminality. I'd say your "anywhere else" is pretty much just the USA, where profit is made the more prisoners are held. Apologies, but I think it's true, Barbwire.