A judge borrowed a line from 70's sitcom Porridge as he jailed a burglar, just like the show's main character. Judge John Edwards said 48-year-old Alan Wild treated imprisonment as an 'occupational hazard', the same quote used in the introduction to the BBC prison comedy.
Like Porridge's star Norman Stanley Fletcher, portrayed by Ronnie Barker, Wild is a burglar. Wild was arrested again after three break-ins at commercial premises in Oldham.
His lawyer appealed for Wild to be spared jail, claiming he had gained 'new insight' into his crimes after being burgled himself. But Judge Edwards told him: ''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.
