Serial burglar gets four years jail for latest three break-ins

Stephen Wem appeared visibly moved when a statement detailing the effect of his crime on one of the victims was read to Wolverhampton Crown Court.

Jennifer Griffin revealed the personal importance of some of the property taken from her home in Smethwick on October 27 and either sold or bartered for heroin by the 40-year-old, £100-a-day drug addict.

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These included a safe with priceless momentoes such as the 'lucky' sixpence given to her on her wedding day by her mother who died eight weeks later.

She explained: "This was of no value to anybody else but irreplaceable to me.

"Since this happened I have had difficulty sleeping. If I get three hours a night that is all I get."

Mrs Griffin, whose husband had a watch given to him by his late mother among the £5,000-plus worth of property stolen in the burglary, said that the couple now insisted on having 'house sitters' to guard their home.

She concluded: "I do not think that I will ever get over this. The people who do this sort of thing do not realise the harm they cause."

The next target for Wem, who had several previous convictions for burglary, was a house in Galton Road, Smethwick, where he woke a night shift worker and hit him with a rucksack – holding a £1,200 sound system, £320 cash and other items stolen from the address – as the owner tried unsuccessfully to halt his escape on November 4.

A month later, the defendant struck in Abbey Road, Smethwick where he took two mountain bikes, computer equipment and a television after breaking in through a patio window, said Mr Patrick Sullivan, prosecuting.

Police found him from CCTV images of him using pawnbrokers.

But Wem made the mistake of repeatedly trying to sell stolen items from the burglaries at the same pawnbrokers where he was identified by police from CCTV images and arrested on January 17.

Miss Julia Powell, defending, said the carpenter and plumber was now off drugs and 'had mended a broken relationship with a mother of three and was determined to change his life.

She added: "He accepts the despicable nature of his offending and realises no apology will do any good."

Wem, of Warple Road, Quinton, pleaded guilty to the three burglaries and was sent to prison for four years by Judge Michael Challinor.

The judge told him: "Remember that long after your release Mrs Griffin will still be affected by what you did because it will echo through the rest of her life."