Graham William Hill, aged 36 and of no fixed abode, was sentenced at Bournemouth Crown Court on Monday 12 February 2018 to 38 months in prison after admitting four dwelling burglaries.

At around 3.30am on Tuesday 22 August 2017 a resident at a home in Crabton Close Road woke up, heard a noise and noticed a light was on downstairs.

He looked out of the window and saw a man in the front garden carrying his laptop bag. The victim went downstairs and discovered the laptop bag containing an HP Notebook had been taken, as well as a purse containing cash and bank cards, house keys and a wallet containing bank cards and change.
Officers attended and forensic examinations recovered two footwear marks, one in the kitchen and one in the dining room.

In the early hours of Thursday 31 August 2017 the residents of a home in Grove Road returned after two weeks away to find their property had been burgled, with items taken including an iPad, jewellery, cash and computer games.A CCTV hard drive kept in the basement of the property had also been ripped out and taken and a camera to the rear of the home had been smashed.Examination of the scene revealed a footwear mark in the basement, which was the same as that discovered in the Crabton Close Road burglary.

On Wednesday 6 September 2017 officers saw the defendant in Ashley Cross in Poole and noticed he was wearing footwear matching that identified by the crime scene investigators. Hill said he was on his way to court and the officers, who were not aware of the significance of the trainers, allowed him to go on his way. Upon receiving information as to the significance of the footwear, the officers attended Poole Magistrates’ Court to arrest the defendant and discovered he had changed his trainers.

Following enquiries in the area, it was established that Hill had entered a shop to purchase new shoes and officers found the original trainers in a wheelie bin nearby.

At 4.50pm on Friday 10 November 2017 the resident of a flat in Cranborne Road received a phone call from a neighbour stating that the burglar alarm was sounding at their property. They returned home around half an hour later to find the lights were on and the alarm had been tampered with. Two panes of glass from a rear window had been removed and a number of items had been taken, with a total value of more than £3,000.A fingerprint from one of the panes of glass was found to be a match for the defendant.

At 4.20pm on Friday 17 November 2017 police received a call from a member of the public who had confronted a man seen going into a property in Dean Park Road through a window. The man claimed he had lost his keys but they did not believe him so contacted the police. The man was seen to leave the area on a bike. The home owner was contacted and he discovered a Freeview box and laptop had been taken from the property. Hill was arrested the following day after trying to sell the laptop to a shop in Christchurch Road.

Police Constable Chris Raspini, of Dorset Police’s Priority Crime Team, said, “Graham Hill targeted a number of homes in Bournemouth and we were able to secure evidence to link him to all four burglaries.

“Dorset Police takes burglary offences very seriously as they can be extremely distressing experiences for residents. I hope that the sentence imposed by the court demonstrates that offenders such as Hill will be brought to justice.”

Detective Constable Nick Taylor, of Bournemouth CID, added, “I would like to take this opportunity to remind residents that they can take some simple crime prevention measures to protect their property from burglars such as Hill.