2 years for addict who stole from his granny (From Basildon Recorder)

2 years for addict who stole from his granny

1:00am Saturday 16th January 2010

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A FORMER soldier, who stole £10 from his granny, has been jailed for two years.

Drug addict Jamie Estabrook, of Caister Drive, Pitsea, was told he had committed a “disgraceful” crime when he was sentenced at Basildon Crown Court yesterday.

Estabrook, 23, took five £2 coins from the elderly woman’s bedroom, as she sat watching TV at her home in Winifred Road, Pitsea, at about 9pm on November 18 last year.

The woman heard a noise upstairs and called out. She was terrified by a dark figure running across the her landing.

She was even more distraught when she later discovered the raider was her own grandson.

Judge Ian Graham said: “This was a disgraceful crime and a mean offence against your own grandmother. It can only be dealt with by a lengthy custodial sentence.”

Estabrook, who has a lengthy record of offending, said the theft made him realise how low he had stooped to feed his dependency on class A drugs and alcohol.

Giles Morrison, mitigating, said Estabrook still had the support of his family, and his grandmother had accepted he was “out-of-control” when he burgled her.

The raid was one of four counts of burglary he admitted at a hearing last year.

He used a rope to lower himself through the roof of the Aldi supermarket, in Rectory Park Drive, Pitsea, on November 13 before stealing £1,150 worth of goods and causing £5,000 of damage.

The day after he targeted his gran, he broke into Pitsea Leisure Centre, in Northlands Pavement, but left empty handed.

Later that same morning, he broke into the Aldi store again and stole alcohol.

He was arrested shortly afterwards at his home by police who found him hiding behind a bin and covering his face with a bin bag.

Estabrook admitted seven other counts of burglary, one of theft, and one of damaging a property, at yesterday’s hearing.

He had a string of previous convictions for offences, including fleeing from police in a stolen car while drunk, and viciously attacking two friends after losing his temper.

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