TWO brothers charged in connection with the burglary of £2,000 of presents on Christmas Eve have been jailed.

Matthew Webb, 36, and Daniel Webb, 34, both of no fixed abode, each admitted one count of handling stolen goods but denied burglary.

Accepting the pleas, prosecutors at Oxford Crown Court said today that the pair had been caught by police shortly after the break-in in the Jericho area of Oxford with a number of the stolen presents.

At the sentencing hearing the court was told that police had been investigating a break in at a house on Walton Street on December 24.
During the burglary thieves had crept into a terraced home occupied by a woman and four foster children at about 3am on Christmas Eve.

A number of wrapped Christmas presents, all of which were stashed inside five large bin bags and were valued at a total of about £2,000, were taken from a spare room during the break-in.

Jericho residents went on to find some of the discarded items and wrapping paper strewn along nearby streets later that morning, including in Nelson Road and Canal Street.

After analysing CCTV footage from the area police went on to arrest Webb and Webb at Hogacre Common on January 4 on suspicion of burglary, before they later admitted handling stolen goods.

In mitigation, defence barristers for both men said that they had been living homeless at the time and had handled the goods to fund a long-standing drug habit.

Gordana Turudiga-Austin said that her client, Daniel Webb, who has a string of previous convictions, had been deep in the throes of his addiction at the time of the offence.

She said: “There is only one reason for committing this offence and that is his drug addiction. He has been addicted to drugs since the age of 18.”

Lucy Tapper said that her client, Matthew Webb, was also a drug addict and he was remorseful and regretted the offence

Sentencing Judge Ian Pringle QC said: “It would have been blindingly obvious to you both that they were Christmas presents you were helping yourself to.”

Each man was jailed for 10 months for handling stolen goods, to include two breaches of a conditional discharge for Daniel Webb.

Judge Pringle formally entered not guilty verdicts for the initial count of burglary