Sheffield Crown Court: Burglar who wasted £250,000 has been jailed for stealing 'bucket of cannabis'

Sam Humble, aged 38, burst into the house in Barnsley, where the shocked owner was struck by a crowbar before the defendant and an unknown accomplice fled with a substantial amount of cannabis, according to a Sheffield Crown Court hearing.

During the hearing on January 11, the judge – Recorder David Gordon – told Humble: “You, together with another man who has never been satisfactorily identified, clearly targeted this particular house knowing that the occupants - knowing that the adult occupants - were growing cannabis there and the purpose of your visit in the dead of night was to remove, indeed to steal the cannabis for you own purpose or to sell on.”

The court heard Humble has drug and binge-drinking problems and as a youngster he suffered an accident for which he had received quarter of a million pounds in compensation but he had spent the cash without investing it and he had become involved in criminality.

Prosecuting barrister Ian West said some time in the middle of the night there was a knock at the door and the next thing the occupants of the house heard was glass smashing at the back door and two males including the defendant came into the property.

Mr West added that a crowbar was picked up from inside the property and the house owner was struck on his leg before the burglars stole a ‘bucket of cannabis’.

Recorder Gordon told Humble: “The crowbar was in the house and was clearly picked up by one or the other of you in the offence.”

Humble was identified and tracked down after traces of his blood were found on the kitchen floor, on a pillow and a settee.

The court heard there were four people in the property at the time of the burglary including the owner, his partner, her toddler-daughter and a lodger.

Humble, formerly of Brearley Avenue, at Deepcar, Sheffield, but whose address is now given as Hickleton Terrace, Thurnscoe, Rotherham, had 14 previous convictions. He pleaded guilty to the burglary, which happened on August 21, 2020.

Defence barrister Ed Moss said Humble, who has had enough of crime, committed this ‘drunken caper’ in drink and he needs help.

Recorder Gordon said he recognised Humble’s drink and drug problems and that the house was being used for illegal purposes but it did not justify his actions.

The court heard that Humble’s previous convictions for 26 offences included dishonesty and violence but he had never been convicted of a burglary.

Recorder Gordon, who sentenced Humble to 27 months of custody, said: “I note you received a quarter-of-a-million pounds of compensation when you were 21 but that was all spent in short order without making any investment for your future.”

He added the invasion of a home at night, where occupants can expect to feel safe – not withstanding what activities are going on in those four walls – will always be treated with the utmost seriousness.