Prolific Peterborough burglar jailed after claiming key evidence had been stolen weeks before

A prolific burglar who lost his baseball cap as he fled a crime scene tried to claim the hat had been stolen from him weeks before.
By The Newsroom
Published 29th Jul 2019, 17:47 BST
Sean MaherSean Maher
Sean Maher

Sean Maher, 38, broke into a house in Orton Malborne, Peterborough, on 20 December of last year but was chased off after neighbours came to investigate.

The men had noticed a bedroom light on at about 9pm and, knowing the homeowners were away, used a key they had been left to enter the property.

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Upstairs, the one neighbour found Maher, of Saltmarsh, Orton Malborne, Peterborough, in the bedroom. He had got in by smashing a patio door but when he saw the neighbour he jumped out the bedroom window and onto the garden wall, taking with him jewellery and watches.

Both neighbours went outside but Maher escaped after jumping over a fence.

Police were called and found the Adidas baseball cap in the garden with Maher’s DNA on it.

He was arrested and during interview claimed he knew nothing about the burglary. When asked how his cap had been found in the garden he said someone had broken into his home weeks before and stolen the cap and clothes.

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However, in February Maher pleaded to dwelling burglary and breach of a suspended sentence order for carrying a bladed article and at Peterborough Crown Court on Friday (26 July) he was sentenced to 40 months in prison for burglary and 26 weeks in prison for breaching his suspended sentence, to run consecutively.

The court also took into consideration 11 other burglaries Maher had committed in Peterborough.

DC Thomas Adams said: “Maher must have thought it was his lucky day when he found a house with no one at home. Thankfully, the homeowners had left a key with a neighbour, allowing him and another neighbour to interfere and cause Maher to leave in a hurry, losing his hat and ultimately allowing us to identify him.”

For online burglary prevention advice visit: www.cambs.police.uk/A-Z/Burglary

Anyone with information about burglary should call police on 101 or visit www.cambs.police.uk/report Alternatively, contact Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800 555111 or via www.crimestoppers-uk.org.