59-year-old house burglar with 44 previous convictions is jailed again for same crime

Thursday, January 30, 2025 - A house burglar with 44 previous convictions has been jailed again.

Police arrested Winston Allen, 59, after he got trapped on a house roof while trying to escape from police in Cheltenham.

According to Mail Online, He had thrown some of the stolen items into a nearby garden but still had with him a silver Rolex watch and some earrings when he was caught on the night of November 5.

Allen, of High Street, Cheltenham, already had more than 120 offences and 44 convictions and admitted carrying out another raid on a nearby home that evening.

He was jailed for two years and four months at Gloucester Crown Court.

His latest victim was out of the country at the time of the break-in but was alerted when Allen set off a burglar alarm at the house in Leckhampton.

The alert was sent to the owner who watched on his phone as Allen, carrying a torch ransacked his house.

Police arrived and entered the home as Allen ran through the back door and began hauling himself up to the roof of the house next door. He was later caught and arrested.

In custody, he had a gold chain and earrings which were later identified by the victim as having come from within their house.

He was also found to have a silver Rolex which was later identified as belonging to the property burgled earlier that night.

Investigating officer PC Sheer from the Cheltenham Vanguard Team said: 'Being burgled can have a devastating impact on victims leaving them feeling vulnerable in their own homes.

'It is hoped that Allen's arrest, charge, and sentencing shows how dedicated we are to taking burglars off the streets and helping to ensure the residents of Cheltenham's homes are safe.'

The 59-year-old was sentenced to two years and four months in prison as well as ordered to pay a victim surcharge of £228.

In 2022, Allen was described as 'beyond hope' by a judge who jailed him for three years and nine months after he admitted two burglaries in Cheltenham.

At the time, he had already been convicted 44 times for 121 offences, 21 of those being for burglary, GloucestershireLive reports.