Mitchell Brewer of Ipswich jailed for Halesworth burglary

Mitchell Brewer, of Fore Street, admitted the domestic burglary of a rural house near Halesworth after police linked him to the crime using DNA found on a can of alcohol he left at the scene.

Ipswich Crown Court heard on Friday the value of the items taken was between £8,000 to £10,000.

Some of the items included jewellery, a guitar, a clarinet, three laptops, three iPads, a blender and several bottles of alcohol.

The owner of the house was on holiday at the time, but Judge Richard Kelly read out a victim impact statement from the owner who said the burglary was a “violation”.

Brewer, 25, was sentenced at Ipswich Crown Court (Image: Suffolk police)

He added it had a serious impact on his family and that a number of the bedrooms rifled through were obviously children’s rooms.

“Really personal items were taken such as homemade jewellery and trinkets which would mean little to other people but would be of enormous emotional family value”, the court heard.

Brewer told the court he had been drinking with friends on the evening of August 8 last year and that he had then gone on a bicycle ride with another friend, while continuing to drink.

Defence barrister Juliet Donovan suggested the defendant had been “led astray” by this other man, who Brewer refused to name.

Brewer claimed they had cycled together and been drinking along the way until they came to some dark country tracks which led to a large house, which Judge Kelly described as “extraordinarily isolated”.

The defendant said he did not remember much of the robbery but that he had been handed items by the accomplice.

Ms Donovan suggested Brewer had gone into the house impulsively while whoever he was with was someone who knew “exactly what he was doing”.

There was a trial of issue because Judge Kelly said Brewer’s account of events would make a significant difference to sentencing, and the prosecution said his account was a fiction designed to reduce his true responsibility.

Judge Kelly agreed and said: “I am sure that this was a planned burglary of a large remote house by a group of people that must have had a vehicle at their disposal in order to steal £8,000 to 10,000 worth of property.”

He added: “The idea that a group on bicycles intended to steal that amount of property is frankly absurd.”

Brewer was handed 27 months in prison and Judge Kelly did not consider suspension because he said the defendant failed to accept his full responsibility.