Teenager at Leicester court admits burgling 278 homes and stealing 60 cars
A teenager has admitted burgling 278 homes and stealing 60 of his victims' cars in a criminal career which began when he was a child.
Adam Crampton, who turned 19 this month, appeared in court in Leicester yesterday to "clear his slate" by confessing that he began burgling homes at the age of 12.
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Crampton appeared before Leicester magistrates by video-link from Glen Parva
He revealed the full extent of his criminal history in interviews with police officers at Glen Parva Young Offenders' Institution earlier this year, as he began a four-year sentence for robbery and burglary.
The teenager, of no fixed address, yesterday pleaded guilty to three specimen charges of burglary dating back to 2007. However, he asked for a further 278 burglaries and 60 car thefts to be taken into consideration.
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One of his earliest victims, 60-year-old Sylvia Hammond, yesterday spoke of the relief of finally knowing the identity of the intruder.
Crampton crept into Mrs Hammond's home in Oakham in July 2007, and stole a laptop computer, a phone and a digital camera.
Mrs Hammond said: "It did cause great upset at the time. If he is only 19 now he must have been very young then, only a child.
"But it's comforting to know who did it and also that the police have never given up even after all these years.
"You hear that a lot of people in prison go back to their old ways when they are released. I just hope he doesn't, now that he has admitted all of these crimes."
Up to 200 of the break-ins took place in the Hinckley Road area of Leicester.
Inspector Andy Parkes, commander of Hinckley Road police station, said: "Victims want to know that someone has been caught and held responsible for crimes committed against them. This man was very young when he began and has been prolific.
"One of the aims of the criminal justice system is to help people turn their lives around and hopefully this is the beginning of that process for him."
Crampton appeared before Leicester magistrates by video-link from Glen Parva yesterday.
Prosecutor Ian Johnson told the court: "He was sentenced to four years in March this year for offences of robbery and dwelling house burglary.
"He was visited by police officers and he indicated he wanted to clear up all of his outstanding crimes."
Crampton's lawyer, Steve Morris, told the court: "He has volunteered the information to get things cleared up and he wants to do this as soon as possible."
Crampton is due to appear in person at Leicester Magistrates' Court on Tuesday to be sentenced.
Comments
by mrv123
Wednesday, October 03 2012, 10:42PM
“This scumbag(s) came into my house whilst we were asleep, my two young children were asleep in bed, stole goods, and TWO CARS! You cannot imagine what strain this put my family under, come on guys this lad knows right from wrong, he knows its wrong to invade peoples homes and steal their hard earned possessions, however why do they do it? Why did he carry on after 200 burglaries, quite simple, because he's getting away with it, no deterrant, this guy is playing the system, the lil b@@@@@d wants his hands chopping off,
A VERY p@@@@d off victim!”
by telephone7
Saturday, September 29 2012, 12:54PM
“278!! is this how many houses you need to rob before you get caught? And if you get caught guess what - Free, secure warm accomodation with no bills to worry about, free food, TV, use of pool table and probably a games console, all your rights will be adhered to. You will be put through a toothless criminal justice system with great cost to us the tax payer. If you do get caught you willl be out in half the sentence to carry on as you were (Whats that re offending rate again eerrr..70%) They really can not loose. We are the mugs not them”
by LikeItaLot
Saturday, September 29 2012, 10:52AM
“I agree georgeisafish, along with the lack of capital letters for proper nouns, the country is going to the dogs”
by Hamilton_Paul
Saturday, September 29 2012, 10:52AM
“Well hopefully his team can turn him round after a long stint in prison. Or is this an excuse for the police and the CPS to clear down a load of crime and the youth agrees to accept a small sentence for them all.
I think if anybody is charged 3 times for things like burglary they should go to prison. Then every time they are caught after it there sentence is doubled. So caught 5 times first sentence is 6 months then for the 5th sentence it is 2 years, next would be 4 years.”
by georgeisafish
Saturday, September 29 2012, 9:05AM
“no remedy for this youth, part of (great) britain's decline. get rid.”
by DavidJCB
Saturday, September 29 2012, 12:04AM
“The young ones today are out fo control.”
by heisspartacus
Friday, September 28 2012, 4:35PM
“What is this reward for criminality then male46? I have never broken the law to my knowledge but might give it a go if you get rewarded for it”
by MacMonkey74
Friday, September 28 2012, 2:51PM
“JayBe, crime did exist, but criminals where punished, not given a reward"
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I'm not sure that's true, you can't just come into power and change all the laws, otherwise the conservatives would be able to turn back the clock and we'd be living in the utopian paradise that we basked in prior to the Blair Bunch getting in?
It's all common sense after all, if only the lawmakers would listen to the keyboard experts that populate cyberspace...”
by male46
Friday, September 28 2012, 2:21PM
“by JayBe11
Friday, September 28 2012, 2:04PM
"@male46
Absolutely correct. Crime didn't exist in the UK prior to 1997.
JayBe, crime did exist, but criminals where punished, not given a reward”
by JayBe11
Friday, September 28 2012, 2:04PM
“@male46
Absolutely correct. Crime didn't exist in the UK prior to 1997.”