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Bungling burglars called taxi after raid
Bungling burglars were caught after they booked a taxi to take them home from a raid – which turned out to be driven by a former victim. Robert Brooks and Neil Goode's crime spree caught up with them when the taxi driver who came to pick them up recognised Brooks as the man who had burgled her home a year earlier.
In the back of the cab, the pair – still high on heroin – joked about their latest raid and even offered to sell her a laptop computer. Today Goode (27), of Cantrell Road, and Brooks (28.), of Edward Avenue, both Braunstone, Leicester, are back behind bars. James Varley, defending Goode, told Leicester Crown Court: "He committed one of the most bungled attempts at a burglary that has ever graced this court."
The court heard on December 12, the pair called a taxi firm to pick them up from a house in Narborough Road South, Leicester. The driver, a 36-year-old mother from Braunstone Town, saw the pair coming towards the cab with bags, which she was told to put into the boot. She did not know what they contained – but the court heard the bags' contents included computers, mobile phones and jewellery worth more than £1,000. There were also children's Christmas presents.
When Brooks and Goode got into the back of the cab, they started emptying out jewellery and money from a pair of ladies' handbags. The taxi driver said she was overcome with fear when she realised that she was being used as a getaway driver. In October 2007, her home had been burgled by Brooks.
The woman, who wanted to remain anonymous for fear of recriminations, said: "I was so nervous. "I said to them 'You've not just burgled that house, have you?' and they started laughing. "I called the police as soon as I dropped them off. They are scumbags and we need to get them off the streets."
Police arrived at Brooks's home minutes after he and Goode had been dropped off. The pair were arrested and taken to the police station, where they both tested positive for opium. Inspector Jon Brown, of Blaby police, said: "Booking a taxi to get away from the scene of a crime was quite a stupid thing to do – it's certainly not the standard modus operandi.
"House burglaries are a very personal crime and the taxi driver showed great community spirit to contact us as she did, allowing us to bring these prolific thieves to justice."
The court heard that both stole to feed their drug habits and had only been released from prison the month before the raid on the home. Both pleaded guilty to burglary. Goode was sentenced to 34 months' imprisonment while Brooks was given 20 months. The court heard Goode was responsible for 15 break-ins between August and December last year, in which he stole nearly £14,000 worth of property.
Brooks had been banned from touching cars for two years after a string of 150 crimes.
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