Burglary may be more clearly defined as entering a place with the intention of committing theft or grievous bodily harm. It is charged under s9 (1) (b) of the Theft Act 1968 and is triable both in the Magistrates’ Court and the Crown Court. In more detail, a person will be found guilty of burglary if:

• a) He enters any building or part of a building as a trespasser and with intent to commit any offence as is mentioned in subsection (2) below; or;
• b) Having entered any building or part of a building as a trespasser he steals or attempts to steal anything in the building or that part of it, or inflicts or attempts to inflect on any person therein any grievous bodily harm.
• 2) The offences referred to in subsection (1)(a) above are offences of stealing anything in the building or part of a building in question, of inflicting on any person therein any grievous bodily harm…therein, and of doing unlawful damage to the building or anything

In the Magistrates’ Court, the maximum sentence on conviction is 6 months’ imprisonment, but this is increased to 14 years in the Crown Court. There are also certain features of this offence which can have the effect of rendering it more or less serious and therefore effect the sentence.

These include :

1. whether or not the offence was committed in a dwelling house or business premises
2. whether or not force was used
3. whether premises were occupied at the time of the offence
4. whether the offence was committed during the day or at night

In addition since 1 December 1999, anyone convicted of three burglaries in a row will face an automatic 3 year prison sentence. This is commonly referred to as the “three strikes” rule.

At MTA we shall do all that we can to ensure you are found not guilty, and if a guilty plea is the only option, we shall endeavour to the best of our abilities to reduce the sentence to very minimum.