Burglary ruling 'soft' says magistrate

Non-violent first-time burglars will no longer go to prison

A magistrate in Sunderland has attacked the government and police for getting "soft" on burglars.

Councillor Margaret Forbes, leader of the Conservative Group on Sunderland city council, is urging the council to adopt her motion which censures both.

She said she deplored the stance of the Lord Chancellor, Lord Irvine and Lord Chief Justice, Lord Woolf, for suggesting first and second time burglars need not be jailed.

In December, Lord Woolf ruled the "starting point" of up to 18 months in prison no longer applied and courts should impose a community sentence in the first instance.

If we constantly erode the weight given to a crime that leads to a lasting effect on somebody... that is a very bad thing for society

Councillor Margaret Forbes

Ms Forbes said the ruling gave out the wrong message to criminals.

She said: "Lord Irvine's statement that ...first-time or even second-time burglars should not go to jail unless there were aggravated circumstances is giving a green light to burglars.

"Police guidelines on how to deal with burglary by shifting the priory of the crime down the list is also reinforcing this message. "I'm not addressing it from a magistrate's point of view, I am addressing it from the point of view of people I represent in Sunderland and their safety and protection.

"If we constantly erode the weight given to a crime that leads to a lasting effect on somebody... that is a very bad thing for society."

Persistent offenders

Detective Chief Inspector Steve Wade, of Northumbria Police, rejected claims that officers in Sunderland had downgraded the importance of house burglary

He said: "We have had tremendous success in Sunderland over the last three years in reducing dwelling burglaries.

"This weekend we had Operation Rolling Thunder, which was a tremendous success and put a number of burglars in front of the courts.

"What despairs ourselves... is when we see persistent offenders constantly being arrested for burglary, granted conditional bail, completely ignoring the court's conditions, breaking curfews, repeatedly being arrested and repeatedly being put before the courts."