Brighton man jailed for city centre business burglaries

A Brighton man who broke into two neighbouring restaurants in the city has been jailed.

Police received a report of a burglary at a restaurant in Bartholomew Square, Brighton, on Thursday, October 20, which was understood to have taken place overnight on October 19.

CCTV received shortly after showed a suspect identified as James Jackson, 35, of no fixed address.

Attempts were made to locate and arrest him, but he could not be located.

On Wednesday, October 26, police received a report of a second burglary having taken place overnight at a different restaurant in Bartholomew Square, Brighton.

Officers attended on October 26 and reviewed CCTV, which showed a suspect again identified as James Jackson.

Jackson was known to be sleeping in a tent in Bartholomew Square and was found there the same day, wearing the same clothes as seen in the CCTV and in possession of several items taken during the burglary.

He was arrested and subsequently charged with two counts of burglary other than dwelling.

At Brighton Magistrates’ Court on Thursday (October 27), he was found guilty of both charges and jailed for four months.

Detective Sergeant Joanne Benton said: “Sussex Police understands the impact burglary has on victims not just financially, but the emotional impact through the loss of sentimental items and sense of violation.

“Tackling business crime is a key focus in Brighton and Hove and we carry out a significant amount of engagement work with residents and the business community to prevent crime and bring perpetrators to justice.

“Together with our partners in the Business Crime Reduction Partnership and Business Improvement District (BID), we have introduced a range of measures to make reporting crime easier, share intelligence and improve the quality of evidence gathering.”