First class postie spotted intruder at couple's home

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AN alert postie led to a burglar being arrested.

The postman was making his regular deliveries in Rhos when he noticed a man inside a house he knew belonged to a couple in their 70s who were away.

Mold Crown Court heard he rang the police and said that perhaps they should check it out.

Officers went to the house and found prolific burglar Neil Thomas Williams, 35, hiding in the attic.

He was arrested and property from a second house burglary was also found on him.

Judge David Hale, who said the postman had been “very observant”, jailed Williams, who had a number of previous burglary convictions, for four years and two months.

Williams, a father of six, of Gardden Road, Rhos, was branded “a persistent burglar”.

He did not burgle expensive houses but “ordinary houses of ordinary people with ordinary things that they did not want to lose”, Judge Hale said.

Williams had burgled the two houses just nine days after he received a community order for handling stolen goods.

“Fortunately, the postman realised the couple from the house were away when he saw you in the house and rang the police,” said Judge Hale.

Williams’ offending was the same cycle over and over again and if he continued then the sentences would simply get longer, Judge Hale added.

He said if he had been convicted after a trial, he would have received a six-year sentence.

Williams received four years after he admitted the two house burglaries at Rhos on February 20 and an additional two months for handling stolen goods, for which he had been placed on a community order.

Brett Williamson, prosecuting, said Williams had been charged with burglary with intent to steal at the house where he was found in the attic and burglary and theft of jewellery at the home of a woman in her 60s.

Interviewed, Williams claimed he had found the jewellery in the street while looking for a friend’s house – but that did not explain why he was up in the attic, Mr Williamson said.

Williams claimed he had ADHD and had a compulsion to pick up any items that he found.

He faced a statutory minimum three-year prison sentence because of his previous convictions for burglary.

He received a two-year sentence in 2003, a three-year term in 2004, a three-year sentence in 2008 and a four-year sentence in 2009.

Andrew Green, defending, said his client accepted it was simply a question of “how long” he would be jailed for this time.

He was very sorry it happened and said he was “gutted”. The stolen property was recovered.

Mr Green said at the time of the offences, there had been a complicated mental health deterioration.

When on medication for bipolar and a personality disorder he was stable – but he had stopped taking his medication at the time.

After the case Det Insp Neil Harrison, of Wrexham CID said: “When an individual commits a domestic burglary and invades someone’s home they can expect a custodial sentence.

“Neil Thomas Williams is a prolific offender and his sentence should not only reassure the victims but also the local community that the police and criminal justice system will not tolerate those intent on breaking the law.”