The moment a serial burglar was thwarted by a Home Alone style booby trap has been caught on camera.
Comical footage captured on a homeowner’s security camera shows 56-year-old Paul Howell tip-toeing his way through the back garden of a Blyth property last November.
Appearing before Newcastle Crown Court this week, Howell was handed a sentence of three years and seven months behind bars.
The prolific thief admitted to attempted burglary and stealing hundreds of pounds of items from another home in the area.
In the surreal footage of the incident, Howell could be seen dressed in an oversized black jacket pulled up over his face along with a navy hat.
Creeping around the side entrance of the Blyth home, he encountered a ‘trap’ laid by the property owner.
Tripping over a thin string of fishing wire, Howell knocked over a bucket of water which not only splashed his feet but also set off the garden’s censor light.
A startled Howell immediately doubled back and left the scene, but did find time to urinate on the owner’s driveway as he made his getaway.
A Northumbria Police mugshot of Paul Howell following his arrest
The 56-year-old was caught on camera tripping over a Home Alone style trap
A Blyth homeowner had left a bucket of water attached to a thin string of fishing wire in his back garden
The following week on November 15, Howell showed he had not been deterred and again attempted to burglar another house in the area where he stole a host of items including phones, laptops, chainsaws, bikes and jewellery.
Following the burglary of this second property, Northumbria Police identified Howell as the culprit after his DNA was found at the scene in a blood splatter.
The 56-year-old holds 49 previous convictions for a total of 108 offences.
In a statement read out before the court, the homeowner who had set the water trap said that Howell deserved ‘nothing but contempt’ and that he had conjured the idea after becoming fed up with repeated burglary attempts on his home.
He went on to add that burglars such as Howell seek to ‘victimise and exploit the hard-working and honest’.
A statement from the victim of the second burglary was also read out for the court in which she expressed particular hurt over the theft of her jewellery.
Included amongst the stolen items was a ring belonging to her late mother which is yet to be recovered.
Total estimates of items stolen by Howell from the second property along with damage to its garden shed were placed at being in excess of £3,500.
The woman added that her family now lived in fear due to the actions of Howell and that the burglar held ‘no respect’ for others.
Howell tripped over the fishing wire, drenching his shoes and turning on the property’s censor light in the process
Howell can then be seen attempting to make a getaway as he attempts to conceal his identity
The bucket had been set up by the homeowner after a spate of recent burglary attempts on his property
During mitigation, Howell’s defence referenced his long-term drug addiction and his having no fixed abode.
The 56-year-old also issued an apology to both victims.
However, Judge Amanda Rippon said that such an apology meant little to Howell’s victims before adding that his crimes had ‘destroyed lives’.
Judge Rippon concluded: ‘People can’t just hope their home is safe when they lock their front door because people like you go in and violate their space and steal their property, property they have worked hard for and paid for’.
