Daniel Coulson pleads guilty to Ipswich town burglaries

Daniel Coulson, 49, of Woodbridge Road was detained and subsequently arrested by the police on Thursday, May 16, after he made his way to the roof in Buttermarket. 

He appeared in front of Suffolk Magistrates Court on Saturday and pleaded guilty to all of the offences, including three counts of burglary. 

Daniel Coulson, 49, was led away by officers and appeared at Suffolk Magistrates Court on Saturday. (Image: Charlotte Bond, newsquest)

The court heard that on May 9, Coulson is said to have stolen 17 car keys, laptops, a laptop bag, mobile phones, a DVD player, a coffee machine, jackets, and phone charger, an electric charger card, and a Mercedes EQC were reported missing. 

The value of this was estimated at £80,000, Suffolk Magistrates Court heard. 

Two more charges of burglary related to incidents on May 16.

The defendant admitted going into Carats Jewellers with the intent to steal watches.

The value of the watches ranged from £500 to £1,000. 

His counsel Mr Holt argued that once the police were called at 4.30am, Coulson left the watches he intended to steal in the store itself. 

Police were called to the scene at 4:30am on May 16 (Image: Charlotte Bond)

He also admitted to taking an iPhone 14 Pro Max, two Samsung phones, four Blackberrys, three tablets, a Chromebook, and £110 in cash from the Staffright Group, in Buttermarket. 

The value of this is estimated to be around £5,000. 

While pleading guilty to the offences, Coulson disputes the value of the items stolen.

He also pleaded guilty to a charge of causing public nuisance, as after he noticed the police on Thursday he made his way to the roof of the building. 

This act caused a cordon with emergency services brought onto the scene that lasted nine hours.

The cordon was on Buttermarket and Tavern Street, negatively impacting trade in the area. 

The court heard that Coulson threw some of the stolen phones towards the police and the negotiators. 

Emergency services stayed in town centre for nine hours (Image: Charlotte Bond)

The Crown Prosecution Service said the minimum sentence for these charges should be one year.

Magistrates adjourned the hearing so that sentencing could take place at Ipswich Crown Court next month.

The 49-year-old was denied bail and returned to police custody.

Emergency services were at the scene for around nine hours on Thursday. (Image: Charlotte Bond)

On Thursday businesses around Buttermarket spoke about the impact of the cordon with nearby shopping centre reporting "thousands" would have been lost.

Due to the length of the cordon many businesses did not reopen on Thursday afternoon.

Jamal Iqbal, from A Phone Shop in Tavern Street, did open once the cordon was lifted and said that he expects the businesses to have lost a lot of money. 

He said: "It is weird because, on one hand, you want everyone to be safe and sound, and I commend the police on doing that well today, but the cordon just meant that many businesses like ours could not open.

"We could only open after lunch, so for the better part of the day no one bought anything from us."

Other stores such Superdrug opened on Friday. 

"We had heavy losses yesterday by not being able to open at all," said Jude Powell, a barista based on Dial Lane on Friday.

"We decided that having lost crucial lunch hours, it was not worth opening yesterday. But we opened today, there has not been anything we have needed to report, so all smooth-sailing."

Other shopkeepers like Deliona Rose agree with Mrs Powell's beliefs.

She said: "There was no point opening. So we kept everything packed in and swallowed the pill of making a few losses and then got back to work today."

A spokesperson from Buttermarket Centre said the cordon has blocked their main entrances and prevented Jacey's Cafe and Twist and Shout from opening. 

They added: "It is certainly causing some disruption to all and will cost our business thousands in lost sales."

Carats Jewellers reopened for business on Saturday.