The pensioners came home to their flat on The Avenue, Beckenham, November 26 last year to find their balcony door smashed by a thief who had tried to steal their safe.
“Both my wife and I are in our 80s. To arrive home to find it burgled was most traumatic. Following the violation of our home we feel vulnerable and now worry about what we may find when we return home,” the man said.
Four days later another man was at his home on Beckenham Grove, near Shortlands station, when he heard a window smash.
When he went to investigate he found himself face to face with a man wearing a balaclava, who then ran off with his wife’s jewellery.
Brian Farias, 27, of Sentinel Square in Hendon, was identified as the burglar in both instances and on Thursday (March 20) he was jailed for 17 months.
Farias, from Chile, was in the country on a six-month visa hoping to find work but unable to find work due to his immigration status he said he resorted to crime to survive.
‘They worked and saved for 50 years’
At Kingston Crown Court, prosecutor Alec Williams explained that at around 5pm on November 26 the elderly couple returned home to find their flat broken into.
The balcony window had been smashed and their safe had been removed from their wardrobe, placed on a bedsheet, and dragged to the balcony.
“There seemed to have been a determined but unsuccessful attempt to either remove or open the safe,” Mr Williams said.
Police carried out a forensic examination and matched DNA to Farias, who they had released on police bail in unrelated circumstances just two days earlier.
Judge Simon Heptonstall told Farias: “They worked and saved for 50 years, never taking help from the state. Now they feel vulnerable because you violated their home.”
Then on November 30, the second victim was in the back office of his ground-floor flat when he heard a crash from the bedroom.
Mr Williams said: “He left his office to investigate and went into the hallway where he saw a man he had never seen before, this defendant.
“The man turned and ran into the rear bedroom whilst the home owner in fear ran into another bedroom to arm himself with a cricket bat. From there he heard the defendant leaving via the window.”
Police arrived and found that a ring and a watch valued at £3,500 had been stolen.
Farias DNA was yet again found at the scene.
‘Stealing to survive’
Farias was not arrested until January 1, after which he pleaded guilty to both burglaries.
Rushnay Sikander, defending, said: “The defendant came to the UK on a visa for six months but lost his passport so he wasn’t able to apply for employment legally.
“He needed money to live. He came to the UK to find employment and send money back to his family but he wasn’t able to do this due to his immigration status.
“Rather naively, he didn’t know at the time he came to the UK how difficult it would be finding employment due to this status.
“He said he committed the burglary as a means for survival and to make money to go back to Chile.
“He accepts it was the wrong way to go about it but he was in dire circumstances and was desperate. He had lost himself during this time.”
Judge Heptonstall, sentencing, said it was an aggravating feature that Farias had been released on police bail just two days before his first burglary.
He sentenced Farias to 17 months in prison, saying: “This persistent violation of people’s homes can only be punished by immediate custody.”
