A Margate burglar who tried to flee from officers by running over a roof has been jailed.
James Sansom burgled a commercial property and then a residential address in Marine Drive, Margate, on Monday 8 August.
At 8.20am that day, Kent Police received a 999 call to a commercial premises, which was not in use at the time, and quickly worked to put a containment around the area to find the intruder.
Officers from the Thanet Community Policing Team, accompanied by a police dog and handler, identified the suspect as being Sansom, and made their way into the building to search each room for him while other patrols stayed to monitor the exits.
A report of a burglary in a nearby property was then received in which a games console, clothing and aftershave were stolen and Sansom was seen leaving through a window and climbing up on to the roof.
Officers followed on foot as Sansom tried to escape by running over the roof, carrying shopping bags on each arm as he ran. He was caught a short time later and the shopping bags filled with stolen items were recovered nearby.
The 42-year-old, of Dalby Square, Margate, admitted two counts of burglary and was given a custodial sentence of two years and four months when he appeared at Canterbury Crown Court on Wednesday 28 September.
DS Neil Martin of east Kent CID said: “James Sansom is a prolific burglar and went to extraordinary heights to evade capture. Unfortunately for him, the swift actions of attending officers working with CCTV operators meant there was nowhere for him to hide.
“As Sansom already had a suspended sentence through previous offending, he is now facing a longer time in prison.”
Went grey young.
Drug abuse. Serial criminal offender
Suspended sentences, the gift that keeps giving. When will these overly lenient judges realise that a suspended sentence is nothing more than a license to comment more crime.
Hi Concerned, are you fully aware of the current hamstringing the justice system is being put under by the Government? Prisons are full. Prison officers are quitting in record number due to working conditions/safety. The courts backlogs are HUGE. To the point Barristers will be striking soon (source – https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-63072901)
Its nothing to do with overly lenient judges, but a system that is crumbling from the inside out due to severe underfunding. So, if you want to blame anyone, blame central government and the party of privatisation (g4s prisons, et al)…
Well said anon. All commenters should read the Secret Barrister’s books on the subject to gain an understanding of the state of the justice system.
Correct. Still prisons are full. With Thanet being a lair of drugg addicted persons. Even paracetomol is a headache addiction. Ibroprofen. Co-codamol.
What I see is mental health and no funds from councillors to aid this ongoing issue.
Drugs.. Are bought in from London mainly. You see folk sell weed to each other thinking its cool.
Drugs are everywhere you go. Mental health sucks with no funding. It all goes to art and more art or food kitchens. What you need to do is to realise there is no money in the bank of mental health. You say lock him up. There are more dangerous people out there like politicians who dont get dbs checked but can raise all the things we need to survive.
I bet this low life doesn’t steal from others in prison.
another waste of rations, he should have been taken out and shot !
We get it real world, you love a lack of due process and have a hard on for death upon those in differing circumstances to you.
Yes, and send his family an invoice for the bullet (why should taxpayers have to pay for it?)