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Hartlepool burglar Derek Oates has jail term cut

Jan 22 2012 by Coreena Ford, Sunday Sun

A BURGLAR who stole from his neighbour’s home after crawling in through her loft has had his jail term slashed.

Denise Smetten thought a poltergeist had moved in when cash vanished and objects moved around her Hartlepool house.

But the reality was even more frightening for the terrified 39-year-old – her ghoulish neighbour Derek Oates had been sneaking into her home through their adjoining attics.

Oates was locked up for two years and three months after admitting burglary at Teesside Crown Court last August.

Yet his sentence was cut to 19 months by judges at London’s Criminal Appeal Court, who said the original term was “excessive” despite having 37 previous criminal convictions, including one for burglary.

Oates, now of Front Street, Seaton Carew, first discovered the attic after doing a good turn for Denise, 39, by getting into her house through their neighbouring roof spaces when she had locked herself out.

But 18 months later, the 33-year-old used the same method to sneak into her home in Dent Street while she was out, ransacking her rooms and stealing loose change.