Peterborough man jailed for 'appalling' burglary of charity supporting disabled and life-limited children, Little Miracles

A Peterborough man has been jailed following a series of burglaries, including what a judge described as an ‘appalling offence’ in breaking in to charity Little Miracles. It is estimated this his break-in caused £10,000 worth of damage.

On March 13, Jack Hilton (21) of no fixed abode, broke into the centre on Hartwell Way, which cares for children with disabilities and life-limiting conditions.

He broke in using a brick and a crowbar, smashing several doors and windows in the centre and leaving glass, blood and mud all over a large number of specially adapted toys, which had to be thrown away.

Between 10 and 15 iPads and computers each were thrown around, at least five laptops were broken, a Wii console had been thrown on the floor and an Xbox was smashed to pieces and all of the drawers from the office were taken out.

The court heard that, in the morning, the children started to arrive and were left in tears at the state of the centre before having to be taken to other centres for safety reasons.

On May 25, Hilton then broke into his mother’s flat on Woolaston Road having been round earlier in the day asking to use the Xbox to access his social media accounts. He was asked to leave when she was going to work though and he is not allowed to be there with no-one lese there and does not have a key.

The bathroom window was smashed and the Xbox and controller taken, with the damage being discovered by a child as they returned home.

The third offence Hilton was sentenced for saw him force his way into a private taxi office on Lincoln Road on August 6. He stole a flat screen TV, five mobile phones, 30 SIM cards, £220 in cash and car keys.

He was further sentenced for failing to surrender to custody on August 7 regarding a “substantive” offence which has not been pursued after the prosecution offered no evidence.

Prior to the sentencing, Hilton already had 21 convictions for 34 offences; including five non-dwelling burglaries and another dwelling burglary on May 12, 2022.

Judge Grey, sitting at Cambridge Crown Court on Thursday afternoon (September 28) sentenced Hilton to 32 months in prison with the terms for each of the offences to run consecutively.

A concurrent 14-day sentence for failing to surrender was also imposed.

Mr Hilton’s own counsel described his previous record as “appalling” and told the court of his Class A drug addiction.

The court also heard that Hilton accepted breaking doors, glass and the Xbox at Little Miracles but did not accept that he was responsible for £10,000 worth of damage at Little Miracles.

During sentencing, Judge Grey said: “As soon as you entered, you must have realised what sort of centre this was. A huge amount of damage was caused and this was utterly gratuitous.

"This was an appalling offence of its type. Seriously disabled and terminally ill children arrived and were left in tears. That charity will have lost our enormously by virtue of what you did.

"This had a direct and damaging impact on young people who’s problems are far, far more significant than any you rely on in your letter to me.

“You have a dismal record for a young man and far too much of your letter to me focuses on feeling sorry for yourself rather than your embarrassment and shame for what you have done. That comes across simply as an afterthought.”