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The dumbest burglar in Britain? Crook steals next-door neighbour's curtains... then hangs them in his window

By DAILY MAIL REPORTER
Last updated at 4:09 PM on 4th October 2010

• Criminal, 38, behind 'not very sophisticated' crime has 28 convictions

A burglar who stole his next-door neighbour’s net curtains was caught when he put them up in his own window, a court was told.

Jason Williams was jailed for two years and five months after admitting his fourth burglary.

The 38-year-old was rumbled when the neighbours went to his home and asked him why he had got their net curtains.

Busted: Burglar Jason Williams, 38, stole his next-door neighbour's net curtains and hung them up in his own window in Slough, Berkshire

The crime was described as 'not very sophisticated' by the defendant’s own barrister.

Elizabeth Lowe, prosecuting, told the court the neighbour had moved out of the property and left only a few items inside.

Williams broke down boarding on the home in Slough, Berkshire, and stole the net curtains, tools, two glass ashtrays and some lamb steaks from the freezer.

'The person at the address had moved out because of an earlier burglary which was nothing to do with this defendant at all,' Miss Lowe said.

'They had boards up as a result of having left some items inside of not very much value.

'They had last checked on May 6 and on May 8 a neighbour had said it looked to him that the boards had been disturbed.

'In the next door flat they noticed that their net curtains were hanging there.'

However, the defendant denied that it was anything to do with him - but could not say how he got the net curtains, a judge at Reading Crown Court was told.

He later confessed to the crime in police interviews and admitted burglary when he appeared before magistrates court.

Alastair Smith, defending, said that it had merely been an 'opportunistic' crime.

'The fact that this defendant went on to place the curtains in his own window shows a lack of sophistication and realisation of the seriousness of the offence,' he said.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1317573/The-dumbest-burglar-Britain-Crook-caught-stealing-neighbours-net-curtains--hanging-window.html#ixzz11Qcyxfmd