Couple were lying in bed at a North Wales hotel when a stranger walked through their door

A burglar swiped a room key at a Wrexham hotel before walking into a couple's room and taking a phone. Daniel Olsiewicz was chased into the corridor at The Lemon Tree Hotel and made to hand the phone back before he fled.

A year earlier, he had broken into a tearoom on the Erddig estate, but got away after an alarm went off which alerted a member of staff. The 41-year-old, of Bradley Road, Wrexham, admitted burglary charges and today a judge at Caernarfon Crown Court jailed him for 12 months.

Prosecutor David Mainstone told how Erddig estate staff member Paul Groom got a notification on his phone that an alarm had been activated at the Coachman's Lodge tea room at Erddig in the early hours of September 10, 2019. He went to investigate and when he arrived found the latch on a window was broken and the window was open.

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A till, which was left empty overnight, had been overturned, added Mr Mainstone. Mr Groom rang police but while he waited he went to an office and saw that the window was open there too. It had been closed when he first checked it and Mr Groom concluded the intruder must have been in the lodge when he first arrived.

Caernarfon Crown Court also heard about another incident on July 17, 2020. The defendant got into The Lemon Tree Hotel in Wrexham, through a window. He stole about £100 from the bar till, £70 in an envelope in a drawer and £30 or £40 in tips from a box in the drawer.

Mr Mainstone said Olsiewicz put everything into a bag found nearby, took a bottle of Prosecco and left. He returned a few minutes later and took the key for one of the rooms from reception.

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A couple were in bed and woke up when Olsiewicz opened their door. He took a mobile phone from the dressing table but guest Rimpi Nahar chased him into a corridor.

Mr Mainstone: "She watched as the defendant tried to find the exit before attempting to hide. However Mrs Nahar confronted the defendant and demanded the return of the phone. He handed it over and then ran off."

Mr Mainstone said Mrs Nahar's husband tried to restrain the intruder but when they got the phone back let him go. The defendant managed to release the button on the magnetic door and escape.

But the incident was captured on hotel CCTV cameras and police also traced him from blood and a fingerprint found on one of the hotel's window. Earlier he had kicked a door to get out, damaging it. It cost £40 to repair the lock.

Mr Mainstone said it was only after Olsiewicz's DNA and fingerprints were recently added to the police database that he was arrested on June 8, 2023 over the burglaries. In a statement Mr Nahar said he had been in a state of undress during his burglary and felt vulnerable. He has suffered nightmares about it.

James Coutts, defending, said his client's addiction to alcohol and homelessness at the time had played a part in his offences. But he has been working as a cleaner and had "not been on the run, if I can put it that way" between the crimes and his arrest.

The judge His Honour Timothy Petts said the hotel burglary had had a significant impact on the couple. He also noted he had a previous conviction for robbery and dishonesty offences in Poland.

But he noted he has issues, and now has a partner and children. A custodial sentence would be especially difficult for the defendant who doesn't speak much English and who had an interpreter for today's proceedings.

The judge jailed him for 12 months for burglary other than a dwelling with intent to steal at Erddig, and nine months, concurrent, for burglary of the cash and the phone at the hotel.

He is already serving a sentence for an earlier offence so will serve half the 12 months on top of that, and will now spend longer on licence on his release. He must pay the hotel owner £140 compensation, added the judge.

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