AN IPSWICH man armed with a piece of wood frightened off burglars who were kicking at his front door, a court heard.

Jane Hunt

AN IPSWICH man armed with a piece of wood frightened off burglars who were kicking at his front door, a court heard.

Ipswich Crown Court heard how the Cotman Court resident dialled 999 after hearing loud bangs from a neighbour's flat but dropped the phone and armed himself with a piece of wood after he heard his own front door being kicked in.

The man, made it plain to officers that his flat was being burgled and then ran to the door and shouted at the people kicking his door, causing them to run off.

Before the court was Darren Hames, 22, of Spring Road, Ipswich, who admitted two offences of attempted burglary, burglary and asked for 28 offences to be considered.

Jailing Hames for three years less 136 days he had already spent in custody Judge David Goodin described him as a “prolific and relentless” offender.

Christopher Morgan, prosecuting said that on February 26 Hames had broken into a flat in Cotman Court and had attempted to enter two others.

The flat he entered was occupied by a man who was on holiday in Portugal and had returned home to discover a Playstation and games worth �200 had been stolen in his absence.

On the same evening Hames had tried to break into two further flats including the one occupied the man who rang the police.

Mr Morgan said the total amount of property stolen by Hames during the offences to be taken into consideration was �10,000 of which only �2,500 had been recovered. A total of �3,500 damage was caused during the break-ins.

Roger Thomason for Hames said he had admitted the offences to be taken into consideration because he wanted to wipe the slate clean and make a fresh start when he was released from prison.