Burglar recruited for his pint size

10:12am Wednesday 23rd July 2008

Comments (0)   Have your say »

A DWARF was recruited by a gang of burglars to squeeze through holes and plunder derelict houses of scrap metal, a court was told.

But 3ft 11in Lee Kildare’s criminal career was brought to a halt after a policeman and security guard spotted his head poking out of a hole in the front door of a house.

Kildare and his accomplices sold the scrap in Tyneside junk yards and shared the profits, said Fiona Varley, prosecuting.

She said: “At 9pm on May 2, a security guard for Bellway was alerted to a noise from a council-owned house in Bernard Street, Newcastle.

“He heard voices of someone in the premises and could hear metal being moved around. He contacted the police and returned to the property and could still hear the noises inside and the sound of metal being moved.

“The security guard saw a broken panel on the bottom of the front door.

“Officers attended and they could see tiles falling from the roof and a head poking out of a hole. Lee Kildare poked his head through the broken panel in the door.

“The defendant helped himself through the hole and was arrested.”

An accomplice fled, leaving Kildare to the police.

Ms Varley told Newcastle magistrates: “He was very drunk and said if the police hadn’t arrived he would have stolen the copper.

“When asked about the scrap metal lying around the house, he said he couldn’t remember anything about it but said he probably would have stolen that too.”

Michael Crowe, mitigating, told the court Kildare has a condition called achondroplasia, a form of dwarfism apparent at birth.

Mr Crowe said Kildare was recruited by criminals to carry out burglaries. “As a result of his size, he finds it easier to get into smaller places,”

said Mr Crowe.

The court was told that Kildare committed the burglary only hours after appearing in Newcastle Magistrates’ Court, where he was convicted of a similar offence and given a conditional discharge.

Kildare, who lives with his mother in Southern Road, Walker, Newcastle, admitted non-dwelling house burglary.

He was given a 12-month community order with supervision and a three-month curfew between 8pm and 7am.