A bungling burglar who targeted the wrong building has been jailed after he "smashed his way inside" a care home for vulnerable people with dementia.
Nathan Goforth, a 48-year-old heroin user, had hoped to raid a nearby doctor's surgery as part of a "revenge" mission because he felt "disgruntled" at the care he had been given there, reports Hull Live.
But Hull Crown Court heard he entered by mistake, and was arrested soon after by the police after a neighbour spotted him in the act.
Goforth later admitted burglary, possessing a hammer as an offensive weapon and possessing heroin on February 23.
Marc Luxford, prosecuting, said that Goforth went to Elm Tree Court residential home in east Hull at 4.25pm that day, where he smashed an office window with a hammer to gain entry.
After receiving reports from someone living nearby, the police were able to catch him in the home's car park as he exited "the same broken window.
Goforth threw down the hammer in the car park, and was detained moments later.
He had a small wrap of heroin on him and a small bag of coins thought to have been taken from the residential home. Mr Luxford told the court that Goforth was also wearing socks on his hands at the time of his arrest, which were used to hide fingerpoints.
Goforth initially told police that he carried the hammer because he feared being assaulted, but later admitted that he used it during the burglary.
In addition to the costs of having the windows replaced, the residential home said that the burglary had an impact on the staff and its 72 residents, most of whom are extremely vulnerable and suffered from dementia.
Goforth had convictions for 189 previous offences, including more than 20 for burglary and "myriad other" theft and dishonesty offences.
Nigel Clive, mitigating, said that Goforth's most recent conviction was in 2013 and he had since shown that he was capable of staying away from a lifestyle of crime.
He shared that after a period of instability Goforth had recently been provided with his own home and support network with help of the Doorstep project, and had been worried about losing his home since being placed in custody on remand.
"He doesn't want the drug lifestyle," said Mr Clive.
Judge Sophie McKone told Goforth: "You literally smashed your way in to the office of a care home, a care home that provided care for a great number of elderly people suffering from dementia and they were clearly very vulnerable.
"This was a revenge attack, a targeted attack. You wanted to break into a health centre because you were disgruntled with your care. It was well planned.
"There were people within the residential part of that care home that were vulnerable. There were vulnerable people present on the premises. You have a great number of previous convictions."
Goforth was jailed for 16 months.
