Quick-thinking victim calls 999 mid-burglary as armed Southend …
A man has been jailed for almost seven years thanks to the quick-thinking victims of aggravated burglary. Damian Mills, of no fixed abode, Southend[1], was jailed for six years and nine months after he was sentenced at Basildon Crown Court on June 9 after he pleaded guilty to aggravated burglary at an earlier hearing.
The 32-year-old forced his way into a property in Leigh shortly before midnight on January 26, when he was armed with a kitchen knife and a Stanley knife and demanded money from the victim and his family.
While Mills searched the house, he was unaware that one of the occupants, in bed upstairs, had called 999. When police arrived just 20 minutes later, Mills was arrested in the garden of the property.
No money had been taken, although Mills was found to be in possession of the victim’s mobile phone and had a hammer concealed in his clothing. Essex Police[3], PC Jodie Allen, said: “I want to praise the family for their quick actions that night in calling the police.
“Mills was arrested as a direct result of that call. It must have been a terrifying ordeal for them with Mills threatening them and all the while armed with two knives. Fortunately, no one was injured that night and Damien Mills is now in prison, jailed for his callous actions that night.”
The court ordered that the weapons be destroyed.
References
- ^ Southend (www.essexlive.news)
- ^ Gang ‘revenge shooting’ kills man and injures two passers-by (www.essexlive.news)
- ^ Essex Police (www.essexlive.news)