Teenager arrested after Stowmarket burglary convicted of a string of offences
An 18 year old man arrested in connection with a Stowmarket burglary has been convicted for a string of offences, including 17 house burglaries in Ipswich.
Connor Roche, of no fixed abode, was sentenced at Ipswich Crown Court today and will spend 20 months in a Young Offenders Institute (YOI) after pleading guilty at an earlier hearing.
He was also given an additional eight-month sentence, to run consecutively, to spend in a YOI for dangerous driving. He has also been disqualified from driving for three years, two months.
He was arrested in connection with a burglary at a property on Hill Rise, in Stowmarket, on March 11 when he entered a house and took the keys to a Mercedes CLS 320 as well as the victim’s wallet and broke into a shed. He then took the vehicle.
He was arrested and charged the following day with a variety of vehicle offences including dangerous driving in and around Ipswich.
Since his guilty plea for this incident, Roche chose to work with the Operation Converter team and went on to admit further crimes, including 17 burglary dwelling offences that mostly took place in the Ipswich area, two thefts of motor vehicles and one incident of criminal damage.
The offences took place between November 21, 2018, and March 11, 2019, and the items stolen amounted to just under £47,000.
Det con Duncan Etchells, from the Op Converter team, said: "Roche is a determined and vindictive individual and by creating such a trail of destruction and damage he has caused his victims great distress. This sentence again proves to everyone that crime simply doesn’t pay. He is a habitual offender and one whose actions caused misery for many householders and owners of vehicles.
"He will now have plenty of time to reflect on his actions in jail. To see him jailed will hopefully bring some satisfaction to his victims and some source of comfort, as well as acting as a deterrent to other would-be burglars.”
Operation Converter is an initiative aimed at encouraging offenders to admit their crimes. This has benefits for all – police are able to give victims some peace of mind that an offender has been caught for the burglary of their home or the theft of their property and the individual has the opportunity to clear their slate so they can have a fresh start when they are released from prison, without the possibility they will later be traced for a further offence. Offenders have to give sufficient detail for officers to be sure they have committed the crime and these offences are then ‘taken into consideration’ at sentencing.
