A burglar “shamelessly” broke into a family home in the middle of the afternoon in an attempt to steal property, a court has heard.
Daniel Hartley, 33, went to the house on Warwick Road, Atherton on January 28 this year.
Bolton Crown Court heard how a mother and her teenage son had been at home at the time.
Katherine Wright, prosecuting, said: “The defendant had approached the house with a spade.
“The was picked up from the garden at another property.”
But she accepted that Hartley had left the spade at the house’s doorway and had not actually used it during the burglary.
Once inside he then tried to steal a laptop, laptop bag and keys to the van before being discovered by the mother and son.
Before he could get away Hartley, of Oxford Road, Atherton, was tackled by the father and other son who arrived home and kept him to the ground until the police arrived.
He was arrested and gave no comment when interviewed by officers, but eventually pleaded guilty to burglary when brought before Wigan and Leigh Magistrates Court on March 15.
Stuart McInnes, defending, argued that Hartley, who has three previous convictions for six offences, was entitled to credit for having pleaded guilty and said he “can’t really remember the offence.”
But he told the court how since his arrest he had shown at least some insight into his behaviour and felt remorse for what he had done.
Mr McInnes said: “He offers the court and the family, through me, a sincere apology.”
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He also added that the burglary had involved “limited planning” and had been “impulsive.”
Judge Tom Gilbart accepted that Hartley had shown a degree of remorse and that his crime had been “chaotic” but reminded the court of the serious impact he had had on his victims.
He said: “For all that I’ve accepted that this was not planned, it shows a real shamelessness to go into somebody’s house like this.”
He added: “It must have been an utterly terrifying experience for those people to endure what you did.”
Judge Gilbart sentenced Hartley to a total of 10 months in prison.
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