A pensioner who stole tools from a family farm and claimed he was searching for a dog that had been run over has failed in a bid to overturn his jail sentence.
Christopher Brooks, 67, was caught by the owners of Walleach Farm in Turton, Bolton, as he tried to leave the scene. When challenged, he said he was looking for a dog he believed had been knocked down.
The farmers did not believe him and checked their CCTV, which showed Brooks and another unidentified man entering an unlocked outhouse. When asked directly if he had stolen anything, Brooks was 'adamant that he had not'.
Tools valued at £580 stolen
Brooks then fled in a car, and the farmers discovered a welder, a grinder, a saw and a cordless drill worth around £580 had been taken. Police traced him through his car registration, and eight days later, on October 18, 2023, he attended a police station for a voluntary interview but remained silent.
Appearing at Preston Crown Court in August this year, Brooks, of Lockside, Blackburn, Lancs, admitted one count of burglary. The court heard he had 33 previous convictions for 66 offences, largely for theft, burglary and handling stolen goods, spanning a near 50-year criminal career.
Appeal dismissed
A pre-sentence report said Brooks, who had been diagnosed with stress, anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder, denied stealing the tools, saying he only pleaded guilty on his solicitor's advice, and 'expressed little remorse'. At the time of the burglary he was already on probation and subject to a community order for a similar offence.
He was jailed for 279 days and ordered to repay £580 compensation from his state pension. Sentencing him, Judge Kirsty-Ann Gunn said: "This is not an isolated lapse. It is part of a pattern of offending."
Brooks appealed against his sentence, arguing it should have been suspended. At London's Appeal Court he said Judge Gunn had 'grossly overweighted' the breach of a community order and that there were no 'exceptional circumstances' which meant his case fell outside the guidelines for a mandatory suspended sentence for jail terms of 12 months or less.
But judges Lord Justice Bean, Mr Justice Jay and Mrs Justice Heather Williams dismissed the appeal. In a written judgment they said: "The judge was entitled to conclude that the seriousness of the offending and the likelihood of the appellant re-offending meant that this was a case where it was not appropriate to suspend the sentence."
