A burglar who caused hours of disruption to Ipswich town centre when he climbed on to a roof after breaking into a jewellers has been jailed for two years and six months.
Police set up a cordon on Buttermarket and Tavern Street which lasted nine hours on May 16 as a result of 49-year-old Danny Coulson’s actions which included throwing items at police and threatening to “come down headfirst” if they approached him, Crown Court heard.
Sentencing Coulson, Judge David Pugh said that shops and businesses in the area were caused disruption which resulted in losses of thousands of pounds.
Coulson of Woodbridge Road, Ipswich, admitted burglary at Carats jewellers and the Staffright Group in the Buttermarket on May 16 and burglary at Europe Cars, Ipswich on May 9.
He also admitted causing a public nuisance by climbing on to the roof on May 16.
Ipswich Crown Court heard that in 2017 Coulson was jailed for ten years for rape and burglary and following his arrest on May 16 he was recalled to prison with an earliest release date of October 2026.
Judge Pugh said Coulson will serve half the two and a half year sentence and this would not affect his 2026 release date.
Eleanor Gwilym, prosecuting, said that on May 9 Coulson broke into Europe cars and stole an £80,000 Mercedes, 17 sets of car keys, a laptop and mobile phones.
The Mercedes was recovered undamaged and the sets of car keys, which were worth £250 each, were recovered after Coulson told police where they were hidden in bushes in Bloomfield Street.
At 4.30am on May 16 police went to Carats jewellers after an alarm went off.
Miss Gwilym said Coulson had removed watches and car keys from the jewellers and had stolen goods worth hundreds of pounds from the Staffright Group before climbing on to the roof.
While on the roof he threw objects at the police and threatened to “come down headfirst” if they approached him.
The court heard that businesses in the area including the two burgled premises and other businesses lost thousands of pounds in loss of trade as a result of the incident.
Carats also suffered a £10,000 loss as a result of damaged stock and more than £2,000 damage to the premises.
Callum Munday for Coulson, who has 62 previous convictions of which 36 were for theft, said the offences took place after his client “fell off the wagon” and went back to using drugs.
He said a number of Coulson’s close relatives had died in tragic circumstances and he had a traumatic upbringing.
He said Coulson had expressed remorse.
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