Donald Mark Burley, 37, unemployed and of no fixed abode appeared at Kingston Crown Court on 2 November 2005, where he was sentenced to 4 ½ years’ imprisonment for burglary, breaching an ASBO and his Drug Testing and Treatment order.

On 6 May 2005 he was sentenced at Kingston Crown Court having pleaded guilty to 3 residential burglary offences. He asked for another 25 to be taken into consideration. He was sentenced to 3 years Drugs Testing and Treatment order and given a residential placement. In addition an ASBO was granted preventing him entering London Borough of Wandsworth for the next 5 years.

He absconded from his residential drug placement on 9 June 2005 and went on to commit a burglary in Garratt Lane, Wandsworth. The occupiers of the property interrupted him and he fled, diving over the kitchen sink and through an open window. Samples of his blood were found on the window frame and used as evidence to charge him with the offence.

Officers tracked and arrested Burley on 15 July 2005 in Granville Road Wandsworth. Determined to evade capture he forced a passing motorist to stop and threatened to hijack the vehicle, only to be overcome by plain clothed cops.

DS Derek Steele oversaw the investigation and said, “Following his initial arrest burglary offences fell 41% in the area. He was a menace to the borough.”

In the month he was at large, residential burglary in the Garratt Lane area rose with police believing that he may have been responsible for up to 20 offences.