Bored burglar now behind bars

Jailed: Ryan Legge

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A SERIAL burglar who broke into 30 houses across Oldham has been jailed after admitting his two-year crime spree was down to “boredom”.

Ryan Legge (19) of James Street, Oldham, and his accomplice Alex Riley (22) of The Green, Fitton Hill, were both jailed for four years at Manchester Crown Court yesterday.

Legge targeted properties with unlocked doors or open windows — usually when the occupants were asleep in bed or watching TV. In many cases he also stole the household car using keys left on open view.

Legge was arrested after his fingerprints were found on property stolen from a home in Royton.

He pleaded guilty to two counts of burglary and a further count of taking a vehicle without consent, and asked for 34 offences to be taken into consideration, 28 of them burglaries.

Judge Jeffrey Lewis told him: “You have not got the faintest idea of the devastation that can be caused by your actions.”

Riley was found guilty by a trial jury of two counts of burglary and two of taking vehicles without sent. He was told, with Legge: “You both have formidable records and are seriously at risk of spending a great deal of your adult lives in custody.”

Craig MacGregor prosecuting, detailed burglaries in Mendip Close, Royton last July in which householders were wakened in the early hours to find they had been burgled, and one at a house in south Chadderton in which a Citroen C4 was stolen. The homeowners knew nothing of the break-in until the next morning.

Riley was involved in burglaries at a home on Helston Drive, Royton, in which a BMW was stolen and another in which a Vauxhall Corsa was stolen.

Ben Knight defending, said Legge had been motivated by the need to “alleviate boredom”, rather than to fund an extravagant lifestyle. He got a kick out of joyriding in stolen vehicles.

Caroline Patrick, defending Riley, said though her client had a lengthy record, he had now had a “wake-up call” and vowed this would be his last term in prison.