HIS young child’s coughing in the middle of the night saved a Southampton newsagent from being burgled – by chance he looked at a security camera and realised there was an intruder in his Woolston shop.
Mr Patel, who was temporarily sleeping in the rear of his shop, Bridge News, with his wife and the two-year-old, alerted the police.
Prosecutor Jodie Mittell said they detained one man outside and found a second, Perry Osbourne, in the toilet inside. He told them: “I’ve been stupid, I’m on a recall.”
The pair had got into the shop after forcing a padlock, lifting the metal shutters and smashing glass in the front door, and were in the process of fleeing with spirits, tobacco, cigarettes and cash valued between £3,000-£4,000.
Said to have 20 previous convictions, Osbourne, 24, of no fixed abode, was jailed for eight months.
“This was a planned operation,” said Judge Peter Ralls QC, who warned Osbourne: “If you don’t change your behaviour, you will spend longer and longer in prison.”
His accomplice will be sentenced at a later date.
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