"I'm not a burglar. I'm no tramp, that’s not me," burglar tells police after being caught red-handed

A burglar told police ‘I’m no tramp’ after he was caught red-handed breaking into a house. Jason Duggan was one of three men who broke into the home in Longsight as the occupier watched TV upstairs.

A neighbour had spotted the three men outside the property on Birchfields Road and called the police, giving the operator a ‘running commentary’ of what was occurring. Manchester Crown Court heard that officers arrived shortly after and caught the three offenders.

Duggan, 32, told officers: “These lads are my cousins, I’m trying to keep them on the straight and narrow. I’m not a burglar. I’m no tramp, that’s not me.”

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But he later admitted burglary and has now been jailed. His accomplice Blake Sweeney, 19, was also locked up, while a third person will be sentenced at a later date.

Prosecuting, Duncan Wilcock told how the trio broke into the house at about 12.30pm on Thursday, January 19 after smashing the living room window. The man who lived in the house was upstairs at the time watching TV.

He had the volume turned up because he is hard of hearing, but heard two ‘loud thumps’ from downstairs. At first he thought it may have been the postman, but when he went to investigate he found the police at his door informing him that he’d been burgled.

The trio left the house empty handed and were caught shortly after. “I feel scared and shaken by what has happened, I feel afraid that someone has been in my house,” the resident said.

Duggan had already racked up 29 previous criminal offences by the time of the break-in, including burglary. Sweeney had also carried out another burglary with an unnamed accomplice at a house on Birch Street