A career criminal had Ronnie Barker’s words ringing in his ears as he was served more “porridge”.
Burglar Alan Wild was told his court appearances had become an “occupational hazard”.
The same phrase was used by the judge who sent down fictional Slade Prison inmate Norman Stanley Fletcher, who was played by Barker in the legendary BBC 70s sitcom Porridge.
Each episode began with burglar ‘Fletch’ being told: “Norman Stanley Fletcher, you have pleaded guilty to the charges brought by this court, and it is now my duty to pass sentence.
“You are a habitual criminal, who accepts arrest as an occupational hazard, and presumably accepts imprisonment in the same casual manner. We therefore feel constrained to commit you to the maximum term allowed for these offences - you will go to prison for five years.”
The words of the TV judge were spoken by Barker himself.
Wild, 48, who has a record stretching back 21 years, was jailed for 27 months after he admitted two charges of burglary and one of burglary with intent to steal between June and September 2021.
Sentencing him at Manchester’s Minshull Street crown court, Judge Edwards said: “You have been in and out of courts now for offences of dishonesty for 21 years and the sad fact is in my view the court is an occupational hazard for you. If you carry on in this way, you’re simply going to become institutionalised.”
He added: “I understand you yourself were the victim of a burglary so you must know what it is like. Burglaries at commercial premises may not necessarily cause trauma or distress but rest assured the inconvenience and loss to small business such as these are profound.”
Wild, of Oldham, Gtr Manchester, had pleaded for a suspended sentence saying he too had recently fallen victim to burglars and had developed “new insight” into his behaviour.
In one raid he stole a TV set worth £600 from a firm on a trading estate and in another at a communications firm, grabbed computer and electrical equipment worth £2,200.
Wild fled the scene of another break-in but was recognised on CCTV.
The court heard Wild had an “unenviable record” and in 2008 was convicted of 15 raids.
He was jailed for 18 weeks in November last year and was on licence when he was charged over the latest burglaries.
In mitigation his defence counsel Megan Tollitt said he had vowed to go straight.
She said: “He has expressed remorse and deeply regrets his behaviour and has had some new level of insight into these burglaries. He is motivated to change.”
