A man woke up to find a convicted burglar rifling through his belongings in the middle of the night.
The victim bravely confronted the intruder, Paul Mottram, outside his bedroom door and asked why he was in his home and told him to leave. He was able to get hold of one bag before Mottram left the Pall Mall apartment with the other.
The bag contained valuable electronic equipment, clothing and other items including his wallet and bank card. The victim managed to obtain an image of the burglar from CCTV in the corridor outside his apartment in the city centre.
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Police arrived and they also found Mottram’s fingerprints. Paul Becker, prosecuting, during a hearing at Liverpool Crown Court yesterday, said: “The defendant had a couple of bags and the aggrieved grabbed one as the defendant tried to leave through the front door."
The court heard that drug user Mottram had 40 previous convictions involving fraud and dishonesty but a judge said that he needed assistance rather than imprisonment. Recorder Graham Wells told Mottram, who appeared via video link from prison, that he was giving him a chance and sentenced him to 12 months imprisonment suspended for two years.
He also ordered him to attend a drugs rehabilitation course for six months, carry out 200 hours unpaid work and 40 days rehabilitation activities. The judge had described the circumstances of the offence as “grim” and involving a confrontation.
Recorder Wells said: “There was no violence but there was undoubtedly pushing and shoving and it must have been very frightening indeed for the occupant.
“The valuable property has not been returned because at the time you were incapacitated by drugs and have no idea where the bag went. That is an aggravating feature."
Many of Mottram’s previous offences took place in Australia from where he was deported. Mottram, whose address was given as the YMCA in Leeds Street, pleaded guilty to the burglary in the early hours of August 2 last year.
The court heard that in March 2020 he received a suspended prison sentence for burglary of four non-dwellings.
Gerald Baxter, defending, said that Mottram had been heavily under the influence of drugs at the time and does not know what happened to the bag of property he took with him.
Mr Baxter said: “He is ashamed of himself for having descended to a dwelling house burglary - he crossed the line which he bitterly regrets. He wants to tender his apologies to the court and the householder.”
Mr Baxter said that his problem for many years has been drugs which stemmed from an incident earlier in his life. He had been working with key workers, particularly in relation to finding accommodation, but had lapsed into drug use again and that night while heavily intoxicated he “could not resist temptation”
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