Criminal Ian Blenkinsop fails to win cut in jail term

Dec 24 2009 by Katie Davies, The Journal

A PROFESSIONAL criminal involved in a sophisticated raid on a petrol station has failed to win a cut in his jail term.

Ian Blenkinsop, 33, of Gillhurst Grange, Sunderland, pleaded guilty to a burglary at Durham Crown Court in June this year.

He also admitted breaching a suspended sentence.

In total, he was given a three-year, 16-week sentence.

Judges at London’s Court of Appeal were told that the sentence was “manifestly excessive” and should be cut, and that Blenkinsop’s role in the raid at the premises in Barnard Castle had been misunderstood.

But, refusing to allow the appeal, Mr Justice Irwin, sitting with Lord Justice Moses and Mr Justice Edwards-Stuart, said that Blenkinsop could have no complaint with the sentence, having been jailed for a near identical offence in 1998. He added that he had previous convictions for 92 offences, stretching back years and described his criminal record as “appalling”.

The court heard that Blenkinsop and two other men travelled more than 40 miles from Sunderland to Barnard Castle on November 12, 2008.

They cut the telephone wires at the junction of Bede Road and Prospect Place in an attempt to disable the alarm system of the petrol station, an act which proved futile but caused disruption to householders.

One of the gang, wearing a balaclava and dark clothing, broke into the petrol station shop before all three men fled empty handed.

But they were arrested in a nearby village.

Blenkinsop was linked to the crime by his DNA, which police officers found on a balaclava used by one of the burglars, while a trainer print at the crime scene matched his shoes.