Sep 22 – “Professional Burglar” Jailed For Four And A Half Years
A “professional burglar” who pleaded his innocence for a burglary where more than £40,000 worth of jewellery was stolen from a shop in Main Street was jailed for four and a half years today.
Guillermo Lopez Castro was found guilty by a jury at the end of a week-long trial last month, and appeared for sentencing at the Supreme Court this morning.
The incident dates back to 2nd March 2014, when Lopez Castro and three others broke into a jewellery shop in Main Street in the early hours of the morning and stole an estimated £42,000 worth of jewellery. The court previously heard the shop owner wasn’t able to recover the loss as the jewellery was not insured, and had had to close the business as a result.
Appearing for the defence, Patrick Canessa said his client “vigorously claims his innocence” and handed a letter to Puisne Judge Adrian Jack who presided over the case.
However, on reading the letter, it appeared that the letter said that Lopez Castro instead accepted responsibility for the burglary. After reading the letter Mr Canessa said his client did not know what was in the letter as it was written in English, with some help from other inmates in prison.
Mr Canessa said: “Other unknown people who also committed the crime have not been arrested, found or charged and my client feels he is going to pay the price for the others as well.”
In sentencing, Mr Justice Jack said: “The burglary involved planning in order that you had the equipment to break the metal grill outside the shop and then to smash the toughened glass in the window.
“Your modus operandi is to break into commercial premises in the small hours of the morning with others.
“An important consideration in passing sentence on you is the need to protect the shopkeepers of Gibraltar from your criminal activities and to deter others, who might think that Gibraltar was a soft touch for professional burglars.”
He said that although Lopez Castro showed no remorse, Mr Justice Jack accepted his troubled past, and that he was a settled family man with two young children, and that any time in prison would be a punishment on the defendant’s wife and children. However he added that the defendant’s past convictions and the fact that the burglary took place at night worked against him.
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