Crack cocaine addict responsible for 60 burglaries

Drug addiction causes many social problems, and not only for the individuals who are suffering from an addiction. A young man from Norwich appeared in Norwich Crown Court last week to face charges for countless burglaries while he was addicted to crack cocaine.

Luke Punchard, who is 23 years old, burgled around 60 homes and even stole from Sprowston High School pupils while they were sitting exams. Pupils had to leave their mobile phones outside the exam room; Punchard simply entered the building and helped himself.

Fortunately the police recognised him from the school CCTV footage. When the police arrested him, Punchard helped them to recover the phones from a shop that he had sold them to. He also broke into a garden centre in the same area.

In addition to burglaries, Punchard had broken into cars and asked for a total of 64 additional offences to be taken into consideration.

Punchard is now drug free. He wanted to admit to all his offences to help him to obtain closure on this period of his life. Although Punchard has helped the police to recover stolen property and to solve many crimes in the region, the judge described his actions as being despicable and sentenced him to 21 months in jail.

Judge Holt understood that Punchard’s drug addiction was the cause of his offending: “Now you are drug free, you realise the harm, hurt and stress you have caused to people,” he said.

Crack addiction can lead to serious problems and can devastate lives. Many people start experimenting with drugs during their teenage years and continue into adulthood.