Yahoo News 'It's your lucky day' Judge tells man who admitted nine counts of attempted burglary
A long-term drug addict claimed that he was casually smoking a cigarette outside his home at 2.30am when he suddenly got talking to a man "from the estate" who whisked him away on the back of a motorcycle for a spree of attempted burglaries.
The sneaky accomplices tried at least nine doors in a bungled series of break-in attempts between about 3am and 4.45am – but they ended up empty-handed, Hull Crown Court heard.
Scott Coggin, 48, of Homethorpe, Orchard Park estate, Hull, admitted nine offences of attempted burglary, all committed during the space of a few hours on May 22.
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Jazmine Lee, prosecuting, said that Coggin got on the back of another man's motorcycle at about 2.30am and went with him to what turned out to be a spree of attempted burglary offences. Coggin claimed that he was merely having a cigarette outside when the man turned up.
They tried a series of doors in St Margaret's Avenue, Southwold Avenue and Bondyke Close, Cottingham, and four in Swanland Road, Hessle, between about 3am and 4.45am but did not manage to get inside any of the houses. Coggin was filmed on doorbell cameras. A security light scared him off in one case.
"Thankfully, nothing was taken because no access was gained," said Miss Lee. "It was unsettling for the occupants." Some of the people involved had been caused sleepless nights and, in some cases, they did not want to live in their homes any more in case it happened again.
Coggin had previous convictions, including two domestic burglaries and, in 2003, having a blade but he had nothing since an offence of possessing heroin in 2015.
Connor Stuart, mitigating, said that father-of-two Coggin "felt no small degree of shame" because of his drug use and the fact that he had children. "He clearly wasn't thinking when he went out that night," said Mr Stuart.
Coggin told the court that he faced having one of his legs amputated because of his previous drug use. "I started when I was 18 in prison," he said. "I have been clean of them for about three months now," he claimed. He was on methadone.
"I have really struggled for nearly 25 years," he said. "I haven't been in trouble since. I have kept to a curfew and I have kept to everything."
He claimed that he "just got talking" to the other man while he was having a cigarette outside his home. "He is off my estate," he said. "I haven't been on the back of a motorbike since I was 18."
Coggin claimed that the other man took him for a ride across some fields but went "too fast" onto the street afterwards. "I couldn't get off," he claimed.
He claimed that he himself tried only two doors but he had pleaded guilty to nine offences. "I had to because it's a joint enterprise," he said. The other man had not been charged, the court heard.
Judge Mark Bury told Coggin: "Nobody's house was actually entered, although you will understand that nine people were very apprehensive that somebody was trying their door in the middle of the night."
Judge Bury said that Coggin's story that somebody from the estate happened to engage him in conversation while he was having a cigarette outside his home at 2.30am did "not seem at all credible" to him.
"You have had a problem with Class A drugs for many years," said Judge Bury. "You are going to lose a leg from it any time now. If that doesn't show you just how harmful Class A drugs are, then nothing will. "
Coggin was given a 21-month suspended prison sentence, six months' drug rehabilitation and 20 days' rehabilitation.
"It's your lucky day," said Judge Bury. "You have got to step up. You are getting a golden opportunity today. You can blow it by not doing what you are supposed to do or by committing offences – and then you will have nobody to blame but you.
"It's a chance that you need to take because, if you don't, you are going to end up in prison. It's not too late to change your world."
