In the early hours of Tuesday 28 November 2023, Mark Taylor was walking along the High Street when he stopped outside a restaurant. The premises were closed and he attempted to smash the front window by kicking it and then throwing an object. After several attempts, he made a gap large enough to crawl through.
Once inside, Taylor walked to a bar area where he stole two bottles of wine with a total value of £60. He then left the scene via the same broken window. Investigators examined CCTV in the area and Taylor was arrested two days later. Taylor, aged 51, of no fixed address, was later charged with burglary. He pleaded guilty at his first hearing at Folkestone Magistrates’ Court on Friday 1 December and was jailed for 14 months. This included sentences for breaching two suspended sentences.
PC Peter Hambleton, of the Medway Victim Based Crime Team, said: ‘Taylor is a prolific criminal who thought nothing of burgling a local restaurant while on two suspended sentences. The cost of repairing the window was more than £400 – an expense the owners should not have had to face. This brazen act could only have one conclusion; the suspect was swiftly identified by neighbourhood officers and will not be a threat to law-abiding businesses for several months.’
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