South Yorkshire burglar ransacked store for clothing and cash

Adam Clayton smashed a front door to enter Caprice Clothing on High Street, Rotherham, overnight on September 19 this year, said prosecutor Amy Earnshaw.

Glass was scattered on the floor, clothing was strewn around the shop and £2,000 in cash was taken along with £5,000 of stock, including Wrangler and Enzo jeans.

Scene of crime officers linked glass fragments to Clayton, who caused £185 of damage to the door, and left a bag of stolen socks and underwear behind the shop.

The owner said in a statement: "I have run this family business for many years and I ask the defendant to consider what he has done and why he has done it.”

Ms Earnshaw said the owner was “hurt because he saw the aftermath of the offence.”

Sheffield Crown Court heard Clayton has 15 previous convictions for 29 offences, including robbery and burglary, that date back to 2006, and has spent “considerable periods of time in prison.”

He was jailed for 15 months in January this year for two commercial burglaries, and was released on licence at the time of this break-in, Ms Earnshaw said.

Michael Cane-Soothill, mitigating, said Clayton was given accommodation in a hotel after his release, but fell back into drug use with some of the other occupants.

“His family, except his grandfather, are disappointed and have withdrawn their support,” he said. “When he is drug-free he can find work, but he turns to drugs when under pressure.”

He said Clayton is having weekly sessions with the mental health team and has detoxed from drugs with a Methadone prescription.

He said that Clayton planned to “steer clear of people who will lead him astray with drugs.”

Clayton, aged 30, of Princes Street, Rotherham, pleaded guilty to burglary at Sheffield Magistrates Court on October 2.

Judge Michael Slater said: "I accept you stayed out of trouble for several months but you went on to commit this serious burglary."

He jailed him for ten months and told him he will serve half that time in custody and the rest on licence.

Read the latest cases from Sheffield Crown Court here.

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