A burglar who broke his leg as he ran away from a break-in at a business in Ipswich will be sentenced in January after being convicted by a jury.

Before Ipswich Crown Court was Karl Wood, 47, of Hawke Road, Ipswich, who denied burglary at Graceful Reproductions in Frobisher Road, Ipswich, in the early hours of January 6.

He was found guilty after a two day trial and the case was adjourned for a pre-sentence report until January 22.

The court heard that police officers were on patrol in a car in Frobisher Road in the early hours of January 6 when they heard a burglar alarm and saw two men running away from Graceful Reproductions.

The officers gave chase and moments later they found Wood lying on the pavement shouting for help.

He told the officers he had broken his leg and asked them to call an ambulance.

When the officers asked how he had broken his leg he admitted breaking into Graceful Reproductions and said that some of the stolen property was behind a fence.

The court heard that Wood was taken to hospital and due to his injury he wasn’t arrested until several weeks later.

By the time he was interviewed by the police he had allegedly changed his story and claimed he lived locally and had gone outside for a smoke when he heard the alarm at Graceful Reproductions.

He said he saw the police car and panicked and had run off.

He claimed he had jumped over a fence and broke his leg and that’s when the police arrived.

Giving evidence Wood accepted he had a number of previous convictions, including one for a non-dwelling burglary in 1999.

He said on the night of the burglary he had been planning to give up smoking cannabis and had gone for a walk round the block to smoke his last joint.

He heard an alarm go off and when he saw a police car coming he had panicked and run away because he thought the police had a warrant for his arrest in relation to unpaid fines.

He said he had broken his leg as he climbed over a fence but denied being involved in the burglary or making admissions to the police.