Gary Mitchell, 54, sentenced to a total of 10 months imprisonment after pleading guilty to an Attempted Burglary of a residential house in the N16 area of London and failing to attend court on two previous occasions.

On Sunday 22nd Dec 2013 at approximately 21:30 in the darkness of the night, members of the Stamford Hill Shomrim observed a male acting suspiciously in the N16 area of Hackney, Shomrim volunteers on patrol that evening followed this male walking through Heathland Road onto Fairholt Road until Lordship Road and walking up to the back window of a residential flat, where Mr Mitchell was seen opening a window and using a pliers to keep it open. The flat was occupied at the time, by parents and children, described as a “young family” by the victim. Mr Mitchell was detained by several Shomrim members and subsequently arrested by Police on suspicion of Attempted Burglary.

On Wednesday 1st Oct 2014 a Shomrim member and a couple of Hackney Police Officers attended Snaresbrook Crown Court in order to give witness evidence for the prosecution. As the trial was about to start, Mr Mitchell, who initially pleaded not guilty, changed his plea to guilty.

Mr Mitchell, who has several previous convictions for Burglary and Theft, was sentenced on 1st Oct 2014 at Snaresbrook Crown Court, to nine months imprisonment for the Attempted Burglary offence and one month imprisonment for each time the defendant failed to attend court (to run concurrent to each other, but consecutive to the Burglary sentence), making it a total of ten months imprisonment, and ordered to pay £100 Court Costs.

His Honour Judge N. Sanders, during summarising this case, praised Shomrim for their actions, saying “The service they did that evening was significant”.

Shomrim volunteer Michael Scher, said “This is a great result not just for the victim in this case but for all other residents of Hackney too. I would like to thank all the Hackney Police Officers involved, for their immense work in bringing Mr Mitchell to justice”.

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)