A BURGLAR who wore socks on his hands has been jailed for his 100th break-in. A judge labelled Nathan William Goforth a "career criminal" and said he had the worst record he had ever seen for burglary.
Goforth, 38, was on licence when he committed four burglaries. He has 190 convictions in total – 100 for burglary.
Hull Crown Court heard he had just been released halfway through a three-year sentence for burglary when he returned to the same business he had previously been jailed for breaking into. Goforth broke into Icon hairdressers in Hull on August 10, and stole £170 in cash.
Prosecutor Jharna Jobes said: "He entered through a window and was seen on CCTV with socks over his hands and go to the till. He then went into the back room and already knew where the money was kept. The complainant said unless you knew where the money was kept, you wouldn't know anything was there. We say the defendant targeted the shop again."
Eight days later Goforth then targeted JM Sports. He broke into the derelict shop above and used a fire extinguisher to smash a hole in the floor and get into the sports store. Goforth stole a £1,000 laptop from the store.
His solicitor Ian Phillip said: "His record does him no favours whatsoever. In his own words, he accepts he has a terrible record. He is embarrassed by it and feels trapped by it. There was no violence or use of a weapon and no persons present."
Goforth pleaded guilty to two burglaries and asked for two more to be taken into consideration. Jailing him for four years, Judge Mark Bury told Goforth: "You have a horrid record of previous convictions.
"The first offence was at night and you targeted the premises because you had been in there before. You had socks on your hands and you knew where the money was. You took £170. There will have been significant trauma to the victim particularly knowing it was the same person who burgled them last time.
"The next offence, you essentially smashed the floor in to get into the premises, put your coat over the CCTV and removed wiring from it and took some money. There was significant damage to the premises."
Goforth began offending at the age of 12 and has committed burglaries every year, when he has not been in prison.
• Follow us on Facebook and Twitter
• Crime news for Hull and East Yorkshire
