A Folkestone burglar who stole a set of skating pads and a bottle of drink has been jailed for three and a half years.

On Thursday, March 21, the police received a report of an alarm sounding at a flat in Folkestone and found Darren Mainwaring inside the property, holding an iron and a handwritten note.

In the note, 38-year-old Mainwaring had written that he had an iron for the victim but he didn’t want to leave it outside.

He told officers that he had found an iron at home when tidying up and was going to give it to the victim as hers was broken, so had entered her flat to do so.

Mainwaring was found by officers to be hiding in his clothing a set of knee and elbow pads and a bottle of drink, he had stolen from the flat.

Mainwaring claimed he just wanted to borrow the knee-pads to scrub his floors.

However in court Mainwaring, of Marine Terrace, pleaded guilty to burglary and he was sentenced at Canterbury Crown Court on Wednesday, September 14.

Detective Sergeant Cara Ferguson said: ‘Mainwaring claimed his reasons for being in the property were based on a goodwill gesture but he still took items that weren’t his to take.

“As someone who has previously been convicted for burglary, he should know what constitutes as stealing.”