Jail for burglar left stranded by getaway driver on Dudley High Street
A burglar left in the lurch when his getaway driver fled before he could get into the car has been locked up for 21 months.
Sam Williams was on bail following an earlier theft when he and two others struck at a shop in Dudley High Street during the early hours of June 17, judge heard.
They prised open the shutters and smashed the glass in the door to enter the Phone Squad store, causing £700 damage in the process which forced the manager to keep it closed for a week, explained Mr Nicholas Tatlow, prosecuting.
The two raiders who got inside collected £7,500 worth of mobile phones and were preparing to take the till when the getaway driver saw police arriving at the scene following a tip off, continued the prosecutor.
He accelerated into the distance before they could reach the vehicle.
The pair left their haul of stolen property outside the store, split up and ran away in different directions.
A police dog traced 27-year-old Williams to his hideout behind a wall in a town centre car park, the court heard. The other two members of the gang have not been traced.
The distinctive trainers and jogging bottoms of Williams matched those worn by one of the burglars filmed by the shop's CCTV.
The defendant was also on the run after stealing £280 worth of drills from the Wednesbury branch of B&Q on April 2.
He picked them up from a display shelf and left through the emergency exit before staff could stop him.
Williams, of no fixed address, was recognised and arrested when he returned to the store two days later.
He was interviewed and released on bail to appear at a magistrates court on May 20 but did not bother and remained on the loose until the phone shop burglary.
He had a long list of previous convictions which included 11 burglaries .
Mr Jon Roe, defending, said: "His offending goes back to when he was 13 but he is now making plans which he hopes will allow him to find accommodation and make something of his life following his release from this sentence."
The defendant admitted burglary, theft and failing to answer his bail and was given a one-year nine-month prison term by Recorder Christopher Millington QC.
