Sheffield Crown Court has heard some have received extensive custodial terms because they already have poor criminal records or because they went armed or targeted elderly or disabled victims.
One jailed offender was armed with a knife when he attacked his victim and stole his wedding ring, and another burglar threatened teenagers during a separate break-in.
A serial burglar also preyed upon a cerebral palsy victim in his own home, while a further burglar was jailed in another case after she had posed as a carer while targeting elderly people.
But judges have been vigilant in considering the full circumstances when imposing appropriate sentences to properly punish some of these offenders.
5. Patrick Maughan
Sheffield Crown Court heard how burglar Patrick Maughan, pictured, burst into a family home in Armthorpe, Doncaster, with two armed accomplices and they attacked a woman and her son. Maughan, formerly of Marshland Road, Doncaster, and aged 37 when he appeared at Sheffield Crown Court in August, pleaded guilty to an aggravated burglary. Police officer PC Alex Fuller, from Doncaster’s Op Fortify team, said the case involved a vicious and violent assault by Maughan and his associates on a woman and her family. Maughan, who has been remanded in custody, was due to be sentenced at a later date. Photo: SYP
6. Michael Holmes
Sheffield Crown Court heard that burglar Michael Holmes, pictured, had already been convicted of four other burglaries when he broke into two Sheffield properties in February and April this year. Holmes, aged 31 when sentenced, of Edward Road, Netherthorpe, Sheffield, has 12 previous convictions for 18 offences, and he pleaded guilty to two offences of burglary and two offences of handling stolen goods. The judge, Recorder Jacques Algazy KC, jailed Holmes for 973 days. The victims spoke of their distress after Holmes stole ‘irreplaceable’ war medals and birth and marriage certificates, according to the court. Photo: SYP
7. Dominik Kroscen
Serial burglar Dominik Kroscen, pictured, stole a car and was caught by police after he crashed into a lamppost following a high-speed police chase, according to a Sheffield Crown Court hearing in September. The court heard Kroscen, aged 20 when sentenced, burgled a room at The Prince of Wales Hotel, in Rotherham, and months later burgled the Slug and Lettuce pub, in Sheffield, and stole a car sparking the police pursuit. Kroscen, of Commercial Road, Newport, was sentenced to 30 months of custody and he was disqualified from driving for 27 months after he pleaded guilty to the burglary at The Prince of Wales Hotel, in Rotherham, and to a fraud with a stolen bank card, and to the burglary at the Slug and Lettuce pub, in Sheffield, and to the theft of a car, and to dangerous driving, and to driving without a licence, and to driving without an insurance. Photo: SYP