A THIEF from Warwick who broke into a family’s home while they were asleep upstairs stole property including two laptop computers – which he then hurled into the canal.
It was one of a string of offences committed by Alan Dorgan while he was on bail for another matter, a judge at Warwick Crown Court has heard.
THe 45-year-old, of Wathen Road, was jailed for a total of 32 months after pleading guilty to three charges of burglary, handling stolen property and producing cannabis.
Prosecutor Simon Burch said in November last year Dorgan broke into the Leamington home of a 71-year-old woman after she had gone to bed and stol her handbag, purse and bank cards.
Dorgan passed the cards to a woman who used one of them on six occasions for contactless transactions at local shops – for which she has since been given a community order.
When the police arrested Dorgan at his home ten days later, they found a golf bag and clubs which had been stolen from the owner’s car in October, and which he admitted receiving.
The officers also discovered 11 small cannabis plants being grown in one of the bedrooms.
Some time in November he had also broken into a garage at a house in Warwick before stealing fencing swords, a pressure washer and two bikes.
Dorgan was granted bail, and in January he broke into a house in Warwick while the family were asleep.
He stole property worth around £8,500 including two laptops, cash and foreign currency.
Judge Andrew Lockhart QC observed Dorgan told the police he had simply thrown the laptops into the canal, which he said was ‘a significant feature of the case.’
Also in January, Dorgan, who had previous convictions for burglaries and a number for handling stolen goods, carried out a burglary at the Woodlands Tavern pub from where he stole tobacco and £187 in cash.
Nicholas Berry, defending, said a psychiatric report on Dorgan ‘goes some way towards explaining the mess he’s got himself into in recent years, with an addiction to drugs’.
Sentencing Dorgan, Judge Lockhart told him: “You have a background which has brought you before the courts no less than 24 times for 89 offences.
“I have to deal with you for a number of matters, all of which were committed while on bail.”
But Judge Lockhart added: “You have had mental health difficulties, and it is plain to me you need assistance, and you are willing to get it when you are released. The hope is that things will get better from now on.”
