Peterborough burglar broke into home of 98-year-old man

John Kennedy, 40, broke into the home in Thorpe Lea Road on 19 May.

At about 2.30am that morning, the elderly victim was woken by a crash in his home. His patio doors had been smashed and entry gained to his living room where a messy search had been carried out.

Nothing was stolen from inside the house, however several bottles of alcohol were missing from the garage.

Police were called out and forensic officers managed to take fingerprint samples from the damaged door which came back as a match on the National Fingerprint Database to Kennedy.

After receiving this information, the following day officers from the northern Impact Team arrested Kennedy who was found to be living in a tent close to the victim’s home. He was later charged with burglary and remanded in custody.

He pleaded guilty to one count of burglary with intent to steal

DC Pete Wise, from the northern burglary team, said: “Whilst Kennedy is a convicted burglar and has a significant history of burgling, he had gone a period of about 10 years without committing any offences of this nature.

“That all changed on 19 May when, in the middle of the night, he broke into an innocent 98-year-old man’s home while he was sleeping. I hope today’s result comes as some reassurance for the victim that Kennedy is now in prison.”

Today (Thursday 18 June), Kennedy, of no fixed address, appeared at Peterborough Crown Court where he admitted the offence. He was sentenced to a total of 876 days in prison; just less than two years and five months.