In the early hours of Tuesday 28 November 2023, Mark Taylor was walking along Rochester High Street when he stopped outside a restaurant.
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The premises was closed and he attempted to smash the front window by kicking it and then throwing an object. After several attempts he made a gap large enough to crawl through.
Once inside, Taylor walked to a bar area where he stole two bottles of wine with a total value of £60. He then left the scene via the same broken window.
Investigators examined CCTV in the area and Taylor was arrested two days later.
The 51-year-old, of no fixed address, was later charged with burglary. He pleaded guilty at his first hearing before Folkestone Magistrates’ Court on Friday 1 December, and was immediately sentenced to 14 months’ imprisonment which included jail terms for breaching two suspended sentences.
PC Peter Hambleton, of the Medway Victim Based Crime Team, said:
‘Taylor is a prolific criminal who thought nothing of burgling a local restaurant while on two suspended sentences. The cost of repairing the window was more than £400 – an expense the owners should not have had to face.
‘This brazen act could only have one conclusion; the suspect was swiftly identified by neighbourhood officers and will not be a threat to law-abiding businesses for several months.’