A thief broke into the home of an elderly man he knew before stealing tens of thousands of pounds.
Mark Tems invited himself into the property with the aim of stealing large quantities of cash he knew to be inside.
The 63-year-old decided to burgle the Ollerton home after getting his hands on keys for the address and two safes within it.
Having learned there was a large stash of cash inside those safes, Tems elected to let himself in when the homeowner was out.
With his trespassing already betraying the trust of the victim – a man in his mid-eighties who he knew – Tems compounded things further by stealing.
More than £25,000 was pocketed by the intruder in total – cash Tems would immediately then spend in its entirety to pay off mounting gambling debts.
The victim only realised the money was missing at the start of last year, with the break-in taking place at some point between August 2023 and January 2024.
Tems would go on to admit to stealing the money to the homeowner when he was confronted about it, with police then arresting him for the offence last May.
Having been charged with burglary, Tems, of Mansfield Road, Sutton-in-Ashfield, repeated his guilt in court, with a sentencing hearing then set for this week.
Appearing before Nottingham Crown Court on Thursday (20 November), he was sentenced to 20 months in prison suspended for 18 months.
He was also told he must complete 150 hours of unpaid work over the next year, and pay a surcharge.
PC Nicola Garrow, of Nottinghamshire Police, said:
“Mark Tems betrayed the trust of an elderly man he knew by deciding to do what he did.
“Knowing his victim’s home contained large amounts of cash and that he could access keys to the property, Tems took advantage of this position for his own gain.
“We know he pocketed at least £25,000 from two safes inside the address, with the cash then being used to immediately pay off the intruder’s own gambling debts.
“Whatever the motivations behind his decision to break-in and steal, this was an incredibly serious offence, so we’re pleased to see he’s now been sentenced for it.”
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