'Groundhog day' as burglar with appalling record is jailed again

A burglar with an “appalling” criminal record has been jailed for seven and a half years after creeping into people’s homes to steal from them as they slept.

38-year-old John Johnson was told the impact of his crimes had been “devastating” leaving the victims with feelings of “violation and vulnerability”.

Between September and November last year he targeted three houses on Marathon Avenue and Falcon Cliff Terrace in Douglas stealing over £2,000 worth of goods.

In each case the property was occupied – police caught him almost “red-handed” as he was fleeing one of them; when caught he remarked “I’m a criminal, you’re cops, you caught me”.

He later pleaded guilty to three counts of burglary, one of theft and a further charge of resisting a police officer.

Sentencing him at Douglas Courthouse today Deemster Montgomerie told him home was the one place people were “entitled to feel safe” adding it felt like “groundhog day”.

He sentenced him to five years and three months in prison, and reactivated an unexpired sentence of more than two years, saying he wasn’t “optimistic” for his future based on “past experiences”.