A mum ransacked her neighbour’s home then tried to hide from police behind a bin.
Lauren Blaney “trashed” the house on Handfield Road while on bail for doing almost exactly the same thing to her ex-boyfriend’s house months earlier. The 30 year old overturned a fish tank, stole a TV and smashed up numerous rooms during the bizarre incident last summer.
Zahra Baqri, prosecuting, said Blaney’s then neighbour returned to his home during the afternoon of June 17, 2021. She said the front door was locked as normal but that he found the rooms inside “trashed”. A large fish tank in the living room had been flipped over, covering the room with water.
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A laptop had been smashed, his TV was missing and an Xbox games console had been damaged. Similar damage was seen in the kitchen, with multiple appliances missing. It later emerged Blaney had managed to reach through a small window and get the back door to the house open.
The man then spoke to some neighbours he saw nearby who said they had seen Blaney and and unidentified woman carrying a TV out of his home. After the police arrived, he showed them from his back garden that his kettle could be seen inside Blaney’s kitchen.
Police then spotted Blaney coming down the road. Ms Baqri said: “They saw her running down the road and a short pursuit followed. They found the defendant crouched on the floor behind some bins.”
Blaney initially said another woman had taken her neighbour’s missing items and got rid of them through a pawnbroker but later admitted burglary. It is estimated that items worth a total of £1,000 were damaged or stolen. At the time, she was on bail after committing another burglary in her ex-boyfriend’s home in mid-March.
That offence, for which she was handed a suspended sentence, saw her cause thousands in damage to his home The court heard that on that occasion Blaney and her new boyfriend targeted because “she blamed Mr Campbell for her children being taken away.”
No reason for the targeting of her neighbour’s house was given but Michael Bagley, defending, said it happened in the context of her continued drug and alcohol addiction. She appeared over video link from prison having originally failed to surrender sentencing earlier this year and Mr Bagley said Blaney had told him she had found custody useful in helping her to start addressing those issues.
Mr Bagley said: “The time in custody has dried her out. She is now working in the kitchens. It is the first work she has done in her life.” Judge Anil Murray said Blaney currently had little chance of rehabilitation in the community and said prison was the only option appropriate for her.
He pointed to photos that he said showed Blaney, formerly of Spellow Lane, had “trashed” her neighbours house and statements made by the man to the court showed that he still felt anxious returning to his own home months after the incident. She was jailed for 12 months.
Judge Murray told her to continue to work with officers in prison to address her substance abuse. He said: “I hope you keep up the progress regarding drugs and alcohol because if you don’t you will likely spend more time in prison.”
