Man who broke into his first house aged 12 caught burgling for the 26th time

A prolific burglar who broke into his first house aged just 12 has been locked up again after being caught committing his 26th burglary.

John Howlett stole computer equipment and a video games console after ransacking his latest victims' home - but left a trail of paint behind him which led police to his door. Sending the 45-year-old back to prison, a judge described him as a "thoroughly dishonest man".

Dyfed Thomas, prosecuting, told Swansea Crown Court that at around lunchtime on March 1 this year the defendant gained access to a house on Pantycelyn Road in Townhill, Swansea, by reaching through a cat flap in the locked back door and using the key which was in the lock. The family who lived in the property - a dad and his teenage daughter - were out at the time, and Howlett proceeded to ransack their bedrooms, opening wardrobes and chest of drawers and throwing the contents on the floor.

Howlett took a computer, computer hard drive, PlayStation games console, tablet device, smart watch, digital camera, and a bottle of vodka, and used the victims' own holdall and rucksack to carry away the booty. The burglary was discovered by the homeowner's teenage daughter when she returned home at around 6pm to find the door wide open. The prosecutor said the teenager also found white paint had been "brushed" on the sofa, and there was paint splashed over the front doorstep.

The court heard police were called and they quickly recognised the burglar from CCTV footage from a neighbour of the victims. Officers also saw a trail of splashes of white paint on the ground which led them to Howlett's flat on nearby Rosehill Terrace. The defendant refused to answer the door to police, and by the time they forced entry he had fled the property. Mr Thomas said police found Howlett's washing machine was running, and inside the machine were clothes with white paint on them. The stolen computer equipment was recovered - but neither the PlayStation nor the vodka could be found. While officers were searching the house the defendant returned home in an intoxicated state. When interviewed the following day he answered "no comment" to all questions asked.

In a victim impact statement which was read to the court, the father said the burglary had left him and his daughter feeling vulnerable, and he said the teenage no longer felt safe in her own home.

John Stephen Leslie Howlett, of Rosehill Terrace, Mount Pleasant, Swansea, had previously pleaded guilty to burglary when he appeared in the dock for sentencing. He has 59 previous convictions for 192 offences, of which 129 are matters of dishonesty including burglary, theft, fraud, and handling stolen goods. The court heard Howlet has 25 dwelling burglaries on his record, the first committed when he was aged just 12. In December 2020 the defendant was sentenced to 19 months in prison for handling stolen goods and fraud in relation to trying to use bank cards which had been stolen less than half an hour earlier during a burglary at an Airbnb rental property in Mount Pleasant. When Howlett was arrested he was found with a designer wristwatch which had also been stolen during the burglary hidden down his underpants, and he told officers he had found the timepiece and the bank cards discarded on the street.

Andrew Evans, for Howlett, said the defendant was a man with "a number of complex issues in his life", and he said his client realises that at the age of 45 "he has wasted most of his life".

Recorder Paul Lewis KC told Howlett he was "a thoroughly dishonest man". The judge said the starting point for sentence under the guidelines was 18 months in prison but as a so-called third strike burglary the defendant attracted the mandatory minimum sentence of three years - he said given the defendant's formidable record of committing dwelling burglaries the appropriate sentence after trial would be one of four years in prison, and with a one-third discount for his guilty plea that was reduced to 32 months. Howlett will serve up to half that period in custody before being released on licence to serve the remainder in the community.

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