Peterborough burglar spotted coming out of bedroom where two children slept is jailed

Bartholomew Cronin (37) of Lincoln Road, Peterborough was sentenced at Peterborough Crown Court yesterday (Monday, November 14) after pleading guilty to burglary.

On September 24 at about 2am, Cronin entered a property in Alexandra Road, Peterborough through an open window.

He carried out a search of the entire house before he was seen coming out of the bedroom, where two children were sleeping, by the male victim.

Cronin barged past the victim and made his way downstairs and back out of the window. As he was leaving the victim hit him with a towel, knocking a rolled up cigarette out of Cronin’s mouth.

Cronin got away with house keys, vehicle keys, jewellery and a laptop.

CCTV footage and DNA evidence from the cigarette linked Cronin to the scene and he was arrested on October 5 when he made a full admission. A further seven burglaries were taken into account.

Detective Constable Tom Hunt said: “This was a particularly nasty burglary as Cronin was disturbed inside the victim’s home at night coming out of a bedroom that was occupied by two small children.

“I hope this serves as a message that burglary won’t be tolerated in our county.”