A burglar who grabbed designer handbags, jewellery and cash from a £12m house in London has been spared jail.
Glen Banks stole Louis Vuitton and Celine handbags, along with a necklace, wallets, Apple AirPod earphones and £155 in cash during the break-in at the Knightsbridge property.
The six-bedroom terraced house in Rutland Gate is currently valued at £12,470,000 on The Move Market website.
The 56-year-old was homeless at the time of his arrest in August and has reportedly managed to stay drug-free in prison.
Banks, of no fixed address, admitted burglary and theft.
At Southwark Crown Court, he was given a two-year suspended sentence and ordered to complete a 12-month residential drug rehabilitation requirement (DRR).
Banks was warned he might not be granted a place at the Ark House addiction centre in Scarborough, North Yorkshire, if he does not arrive promptly to his first appointment.
Judge Sally-Ann Hales told him: ‘This is an enormous opportunity for you to tackle your difficulties.’
‘I would like to see you again for an update on your progress and to review your sentence on 12 May, 2025.’
Matthew Banks, defending, earlier said: ‘He is incredibly keen to make this opportunity work.
‘He really would like this residential drug rehabilitation requirement, even if he has to wait for it in custody.’
However, Mr Banks said his defendant was ‘frustrated’ and that he believed ‘the system’ would prevent him from the opportunity to kick his addiction.
‘He is currently of a mindset that no matter what the court decides, he will not actually have the opportunity to have the DRR.’
Banks’s surcharge was reduced to zero.
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