Prolific burglar writes letter of apology to victims

9:43am Wednesday 6th March 2013 in News

Prolific burglar writes letter of apology to victims Prolific burglar writes letter of apology to victims

A PROLIFIC burglar who notched up more than 70 crimes has written individual letters of apology to his victims.

Callum Greenaway, 26, explained to each one how it was “nothing personal” and blamed his actions on drug addiction.

In court Greenaway’s offending was described as “immense” after he admitted stealing about £200,000 worth of goods from homes and businesses mainly in Essex last year, although some thefts dated back to 2011.

In mitigation Maria Dineen read aloud part of one of the letters at Southend Crown Court.

She said: “I burgled your house because I was abusing drugs. “I had no concept of remorse, I only cared about one thing at the time and that’s me and getting money for drugs.”

She said the letter went on to say that he was now “clean” of drugs and sorry for what he had done. It went on to read: “I hope this letter gives you closure.

“I hope you realise there was nothing personal about the offence, I did not target you or your family.”

He also said that he wanted to reassure them he had not been watching them - or their property.

Greenaway of Twyford Avenue, Great Wakering, was only charged with three of the burglaries to which he entered guilty pleas.

He asked for 70 other matters to be taken into consideration so he could wipe the slate clean.

He was jailed for two-and-a-half years.

Comments(15)

InTheKnowOk says...
10:11am Wed 6 Mar 13

Writing letters of apology is of no use to those who he stole from, they are not going to get their goods back, their insurance premiums aren't going to go down, it changes nothing .. These dregs of society make me sick, they are scum, lazy, useless potheads who sneak around waiting for an opportunity to break into homes to feed their filthy habit ..If i was sent a letter from this dude i would shove it where the don't shine.

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sunnydd says...
10:27am Wed 6 Mar 13

This country needs to start punishing those who break the law with realistic sentencing to act as a deterrent. Letter writing does not excuse the fact he entered someones home uninvited & stole their possessions.
Stop the lightly lightly approach & make punishment a punishment.

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reptile says...
10:30am Wed 6 Mar 13

If he is only 26 then it's a poor advert for drugs.

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stopmoaning1 says...
10:38am Wed 6 Mar 13

Me thinks it's either a slow news day or somebody from the Echo should actually look at their own site. They have just run exactly the same story less than an hour after this one.

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everyoneh850 says...
12:00pm Wed 6 Mar 13

What a Nice bloke. How many burglars send you a letter of apology these days?

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DogsMessInLeigh says...
3:32pm Wed 6 Mar 13

26 going on 46.......it is a small and i say small step in the right direction doing the letter thing.

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I hate the police says...
4:36pm Wed 6 Mar 13

That man looks like a very healthy looking chap for 26 years old. He will be dead by 30.

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tophatdt says...
5:34pm Wed 6 Mar 13

if i saw him in my house and described him to police I would say 40-45, so that's very misleading.....My goodness, stay off the drugs kids!

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BIRLIS says...
5:35pm Wed 6 Mar 13

26!?!?

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Nebs says...
6:00pm Wed 6 Mar 13

everyoneh850 wrote:
What a Nice bloke. How many burglars send you a letter of apology these days?
It was a nice plan though, write letters of apology and hope the judge thinks you mean it and lets you go home. Didn't work though.

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supermadmax says...
7:19pm Wed 6 Mar 13

Im with most others, he dont look 26 !

To be fair I assumed this was an Echo typo (as per usual!) but its been confirmed in other media.

What the Echo does not bother to tell us is that the letters actually got his sentence cut in 1/2.

So perhaps they were not so genuine after all.......although I cant knock him from trying....

http://www.mirror.co
.uk/news/uk-news/bur
glar-who-stole-20000
0-goods-1744881

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DogsMessInLeigh says...
9:19pm Wed 6 Mar 13

i wonder who did the writing for him.

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jolllyboy says...
10:14pm Wed 6 Mar 13

Not watching them - so how did he know when they were out to rob.

He will be let out early for writing all those letters so where is the justice in that. Does taking drugs make it okay then - same as being drunk of course. Say sorry = half the sentence.

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asbo in a coma says...
10:31pm Wed 6 Mar 13

sure he's sorry. at least his rump will be sorry when it gets acquainted with bubba on a daily basis

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Chazmondo says...
2:03pm Thu 7 Mar 13

He probably stole the pen and paper from one of the houses !!

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