A drugged up burglar who broke into a house in Swanley and stole a £35,000 Mercedes car from the drive has been jailed for 12 months.

Thomas Mongan was spotted acting suspiciously by a neighbour of the owner Luke Cassar in Kingswood Avenue, Swanley, on the afternoon of June 26.

Mr Cassar was out when Christopher Day heard an alarm at the house and saw Mongan, 27, walking away wearing latex gloves and carrying a laptop computer under his arm.

Mongan claimed he had been doing some building work. Mr Day saw that he also had a Mercedes key in his hand. Mongan claimed it was for his father’s van.

Prosecutor Mary Jacobson said when Mr Day continued to question Mongan he became aggressive. Mr Day went to his house to call the police and then saw that Mongan had gone to the Mercedes.

Mr Day tried to grab the key but Mongan managed to drive off. The car was never found.
Mr Cassar returned home to find that his home had been ransacked and £3,000 worth of property had been taken.

Miss Jacobson said the victim was a car salesman and the Mercedes belonged to his employer, who had to pay £2,500 insurance excess. Mr Cassar had to pay a £250 excess.
CCTV at the house showed the intruder climbing on the conservatory roof before forcing open rear doors.

Miss Jacobson said Mongan, of Upper Elvers End Road, Beckenham, had previous convictions for 46 offences.

Kabir Sondhi, defending, said having been released from prison on licence Mongan was “self-medicating” with cannabis and Valium for a mental disorder and did not remember much about the burglary.

Recorder Jason Dunn-Shaw told Mongan, who admitted burglary and theft, it was gratifying to hear he was receiving treatment in prison.

“You may regard yourself as very fortunate with the sentence,” he said. “It seems to me until you deal with your substance abuse and associated mental difficulties you are going to carry on offending.

“If you come before another judge he will throw the book at you.”
Recorder Dunn-Shaw praised Mr Day for his “courageous conduct”.