A BURGLAR was spotted by someone who knew him from being a school pupil after he removed his balaclava while fleeing from the scene of a break-in.
Damien Scarlett and accomplice Benedict Russell were both jailed after they had pleaded guilty to attempted burglary at the house in Rumbush Lane near Earlswood, Solihull.
Russell, aged 22, of Priory Road, Hall Green, who sat crying in the dock, was jailed for nine months concurrent to the 12-month sentence he is already serving.
But Scarlett, 21, of Tustin Grove, Acocks Green, who had a worse record, was given a six-month sentence consecutive to the 18-month sentence he is serving.
Prosecutor Anthony Johnston said the victim had lived at the ‘detached and isolated’ house in Rumbush Lane for 61 years.
On a Sunday afternoon in April she was at home when she saw a man, Russell, in the back garden.
She ran to the rear porch, where she saw a second man, Scarlett, in a black balaclava just outside, and a double-glazed window which cost £200 to replace was cracked where he had tried to smash it, so she banged on a window.
