'Prolific burglar' back behind bars for Sandwell break-in
West Midlands Police launched an appeal for information leading to the arrest of a 57-year-old career burglar
A “prolific and professional” burglar was captured on security cameras making off with loot stolen from a family’s home.
Fifty-seven-year-old Wayne Wooldridge who has scores of convictions for 108 offences in a life-time of crime initially denied burglary relating to a break-in at a property, in Barn Close, Cradley Heath, on January 12. He was seen on CCTV footage arriving and leaving the street carrying a bag.
He was arrested after being identified by a police officer who recognised him due to his offending behaviour over the years. And a member of the public whose security camera caught him returning home carrying the same bag following the burglary.
He pleaded guilty to the charge at a hearing before Walsall Magistrates Court the following month.
He was sentenced at Wolverhampton Crown Court on Friday for the latest offence under three-strike minimum term legislation. The career criminal stole stealing electronic devices and a bottle of vodka which were never recovered from the address.
The court heard that a neighbour spotted that a glass in a door at the address was broken and phoned 999. An investigation was launched and Sandwell police launched an appeal for residents to check CCTV cameras.
The court heard the serial law-breaker, of Wallace Rise, Cradley Heath, had been released from prison in February 2025 and had 44 convictions for burglary alone.
In mitigation, Miss Danae Larham said: “We wouldn’t shy away from describing him as a prolific and professional burglar. We ask for a suspended sentence.”
She added that he had reconciled with his son after 23 years and also had settled down with a new partner.
However, Judge Michael Fowler said: “The defendant knows full well that he will serve half the term in prison and will be released subject to licence. I hope for his sake and others in the community that he gets some support.”
“It is not an act that he has got wrong, it is an act that he has decided to carry out. I am sentencing him under the minimum term provisions. He must also pay the victims' surcharge.”
The three-strike rule for domestic burglary mandates a minimum sentence of three years in prison under the Sentencing Act 2020. Wooldridge was jailed for two-and-a-half years after getting a discount for his guilty plea.
His long list of previous convictions include in 2013 when he was jailed for three years and eight months after being caught red-handed ransacking a house in Bentley, Walsall. He was detained by the homeowners.