A Newark man caught by police as he stripped copper piping and an immersion heater from an empty house has admitted three burglaries and a series of other offences, and will be sentenced next month.
William Meakin, 32, of Gainsborough Road, pleaded guilty to every charge he faced when he appeared at Nottingham Magistrates’ Court on Monday 12 October. As well as the three burglaries, he admitted two counts of fraud by false representation, theft from a vehicle, taking a vehicle without the owner’s consent and driving offences. He was released on conditional bail and is due to be sentenced at the same court on 13 November.
His arrest came two days earlier. According to Nottinghamshire Police, neighbourhood officers were called at around 2.40pm on Saturday 10 October to reports of a burglary in progress at an unoccupied house on Yorke Drive. They arrived within minutes. Inside, they found piping piled on the landing and an immersion heater downstairs beside a broken window. Meakin was found nearby and arrested.
Police said he had broken in intending to steal the heater and the copper pipework. Metal theft from empty properties is common because copper can be sold for scrap, and the damage left behind, from ripped-out plumbing to broken windows, often costs considerably more to repair than the metal is worth.
Officers had already identified Meakin as a suspect in two earlier burglaries. Both took place at Newark College on Friary Road, on 30 June and 6 July. On each occasion, police said, he got into the premises and took power tools valued at several hundred pounds apiece.
What linked him to those break-ins was what he did next. After each burglary, according to police, he took the stolen tools to a shop nearby and tried to sell them. Officers reviewing the shop’s CCTV recognised the man at the counter as Meakin. The force did not say whether either sale went through, nor did it spell out what the two fraud charges relate to, though their number matches the two attempted sales.
The other matters he admitted, including the theft from a vehicle and taking a vehicle without consent, were charged separately. Police have not released details of when or where those offences took place.
Inspector Charlotte Ellam, the district commander for Newark and Sherwood, credited the speed of the response on Saturday afternoon. “By responding to this burglary call as quickly as they did, our officers were effectively able to catch William Meakin red-handed,” she said. She added that he had already committed two other break-ins and been involved in further thefts before he was stopped.
Meakin’s guilty pleas at the first opportunity mean there will be no trial, and courts in England and Wales normally reduce sentences by up to a third for an early admission of guilt. Magistrates will decide on 13 November whether to sentence him themselves or, if they consider their powers insufficient for the overall offending, commit him to Nottingham Crown Court for sentence. Before then, the court may order a pre-sentence report from the Probation Service, which typically assesses an offender’s circumstances and the risk of further offending.
Burglary of a building other than a home carries a maximum sentence of 10 years, and burglary of a dwelling a maximum of 14 years. Police have not said whether the empty Yorke Drive property was treated as a dwelling for the purposes of the charge.
The police account leaves several other questions open, including who owned the empty house, whether the Newark College tools were recovered and how much was lost in total. The college has not commented publicly on the break-ins.
Meakin remains on conditional bail until his sentencing hearing on 13 November.