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A TEESSIDE judge said burglars had “courage” and prison did little good for anyone.

Judge Peter Bowers admitted he could be “pilloried” for his decision to let a serial burglar walk free from his court.

He said: “It takes a huge amount of courage as far as I can see for somebody to burgle somebody’s house.

“I wouldn’t have the nerve.

“Yet somehow, bolstered by drugs and desperation, you were prepared to do that,” he told Richard Rochford, the man in the dock yesterday.

He accepted that Rochford, 26, had been harmed by prison.

“I think prison very rarely does anybody any good,” he said. “It mostly leaves people the chance to change their own mind if they want to.

“I don’t think anybody would benefit from sending you to prison today. We’d all just feel a bit easier that a burglar had been taken off the streets.”

Rochford burgled three East Cleveland homes and tried to burgle another in five days.

Judge Bowers said he deserved to be jailed for two-and-a-half years, and anything less would not satisfy the public.

But he left the jail term hanging over Rochford’s head at Teesside Crown Court.

The judge acknowledged the trauma and fear suffered by the victims of burglary.

“For months and months and sometimes years, they never recover,” he added.

But he said Rochford had rid himself of a drug habit since the burglaries in February.

“What you’ve done since I find rather extraordinary and something which doesn’t often happen,” said Judge Bowers.

“I’m going to take a chance on you, an extraordinary chance, one which I don’t often take.”

He followed the recommendation of a pre-sentence report and gave Rochford, of Westbourne Grove, Redcar, a two-year supervision order with drug rehabilitation and 200 hours’ unpaid work, with a one-year driving ban.

He added: “If I see you across the court again, you start with 30 months for that. I won’t take any excuses.

“You’ve been given an extraordinary chance. I might get pilloried for it.

“But if you turn up, do the right thing, then I’ll have done the right thing. You let me down and you let yourself down.”

Turnaround on sentencing guide >>>

THREE months ago Judge Peter Bowers criticised sentencing guidelines for recommending a “slap across the wrist” for first-time burglars.

Richard Rochford was one such burglar. This was his first conviction for burglary, with a caution for burgling a home when he was 10.

His only previous conviction was for arson, which put him in jail for three years.

He invaded a home on Davison Street, Lingdale, and took a laptop, a satnav, money and the keys to a Ford Focus on February 12 this year.

He took the car, with his then girlfriend Amy Kyme, pictured outside court, as a passenger, to their home.

He damaged the car, tried to abandon it in an alley and failed to take a bend.

The following night he burgled a home on Wand Hill, Boosbeck, and took property including jewellery, a handbag and electrical items.

Kyme, 22, acted as a lookout in this burglary and disposed of some of the stolen possessions at a second hand goods shop.

Both homes were unlocked and he walked in while the occupants slept.

Rochford admitted two burglaries and asked for one more burglary and one attempted burglary to be taken into account. Kyme, of Durham Road, Redcar, admitted burglary and handling stolen goods.

Each admitted a charge of aggravated vehicle taking.

Graham Brown, defending Rochford, said his downfall was his introduction and addiction to the heroin treatment drug Subutex while in prison, then the “ravages” caused by heroin outside.

He said: “It scarred his life. The system failed him.”

He said Rochford had a “major wake-up call”, a “damascene conversion” and had “seen the light”. He confessed, co-operated with police and stopped using drugs.

He added Rochford was a caring man who felt remorse for his “inexcusable” crimes.

Rochford had support from his family and a job offer as a labourer and wanted to move on to lead a useful, constructive, crime-free life.

Peter Wishlade, for Kyme who had no previous convictions, said she was “distinctly remorseful” and unlikely to end up in court again.

The young mum, currently pregnant with her second child, had separated from Rochford, come off drugs and was supported by family including her uncle, a serving police officer.

She was given a one-year prison sentence suspended for 18 months with a 20-week 7pm to 7am curfew.