A teenage burglar, who equipped himself with two hammers, wire cutters and a length of plastic for slipping locks, targeted a landmark accommodation block for Royal Free Hospital staff with two younger accomplices in the middle of the night.
The trio were found at 3am wandering around a ground-floor office in Coppetts Wood House, Lawn Road, Hampstead when a nurse heard them breaking-in and called the police.
Music student David Newby, 18, of 88 Leverton Street, Kentish Town pleaded guilty at Blackfriars Crown Court to burgling the building (pictured) on May 18 and was sentenced to seventy hours community service.
Prosecutor Mrs Jag Shah told the court Newby and two youths, aged 16 and 15, who were separately dealt with were seen forcing open a ground-floor window by a resident looking down from above.
She heard voices at 3:00am saying: “See if you can get in there.”
“She shouted at them to go, but this did not deter them,” added Mrs Shah.
After the trio were caught it was also discovered the building’s main communal door lock had been broken with a sharp instrument.
“This young man is firmly on the slippery slope to a life of crime and needs to be stopped in his tracks,” announced Judge David Martineau, after hearing Newby has a warning for attempted robbery and theft from a vehicle.
“You could have got very easily from the office into the residential area,” the judge told the defendant.
“You burgled in a group in the middle of the night armed with two hammers, wire cutters and the length of plastic. It was clearly pre-planned and you were the oldest, you were the ringleader.”
Newby was also placed under supervision for twelve months and ordered to obey a strict nightime curfew for three months.
The ten-storey 141-unit building which comprises of studios and 1 and 2-bedroom flats was opened on October 20, 2008 by HRH The Duke of York, Patron of the Royal Free Hampstead NHS trust.
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