Prolific offender locked up after string of crimes

A PROLIFIC criminal has been jailed for more than four years for his part in five different burglaries.

Graham Brook, 40, was twice confronted by women in their kitchens when he broke into their homes in Sedlescombe and Battle. He told his victims he was "confused" or looking for the dentists.

He also snatched purses from a pub in Robertsbridge.

When interviewed, he initially refused to talk to police but later confessed when CCTV evidence came to light.

Sussex Police Detective Inspector Mark O'Brien said: "Brook has been a prolific offender of the type that we actively target."

PC Jayne Cleverley added: "He has a long history of convictions and has spent a lot of time in prison from a young age. He has explained that he has committed these burglaries in order to fund his gambling habit."

Jailed for past offences, Brook was released from prison on August 18 and returned to his home in Blackman Avenue, St Leonards. He was back committing crimes within a month.

At 3pm on September 18 a customer drinking in the Johns Cross Inn told staff he saw a man leaving and getting into a silver-coloured Ford Focus. Two members of staff later reported their purses had been stolen from a coat rack between the kitchen and a washing-up area.

Each of the purses had around £10 in, and Brook admitted he threw them in a bin in Hastings.

Two days later a woman at home in Battle High Street was shocked to see Brook standing in her kitchen. She asked him what he was doing, and he replied: "I thought this was the dentist."

He ran off, evading the woman's pursuing son, but he was captured on High Street CCTV. He dumped a stolen purse at a substation. It has since been returned to the victim.

Then on September 23, at 7pm, he walked into a house in The Street, Sedlescombe, where a woman and her family were at home watching a DVD. The woman confronted Brook in the kitchen where he told her: "I've got confused. I'm looking for someone."

She shouted and he ran off in the direction of Brede Lane, where CCTV caught him looking through other windows and trying doors of several houses.

Admitting a charge of burglary and asking for the earlier offences plus a burglary in St Leonards to be taken into consideration, Brook was sentenced to a total of 51 months in prison at Lewes Crown Court on December 16.