Nelson man cleared of raid on Burnley pub

A Nelson man has been found not guilty of burglary after a Burnley pub was raided by three hooded men.
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Ricky England (20) was accused of being part of the gang that broke into the Coal Clough pub in a night-time raid, at Burnley Crown Court.

But he was acquitted of one count of burglary other than a dwelling and another count of burglary dwelling theft by the crown court jury.

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Three men had been caught on CCTV when the hostelry in Coal Clough Lane was burgled on August 1st, the court heard.

The defendant, of Calder Close, Nelson, denied being involved, but investigating detectives specialising in burglary said they identified him from a full-faced image when he was directly in front of the camera at the pub.

The court was told two other men identified on CCTV, Jason Aspinall and Andrew Hazley, pleaded guilty to the burglary. They had also been identified when police examined CCTV.

Prosecutor Anthony Longworth said the three had carried out the burglary as a joint enterprise. England did not go into the pub but had had property stolen from the living quarters of the building given to him through a window of the pub.

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He said Aspinall was the only one to go into the building, after being given a leg-up by England.

England refused to make any comment when interviewed by police and also refused to give evidence at his trial.

His barrister, Mr Richard Dawson, said the CCTV footage was “blurred” and “low quality” and said police had been influenced by information in their possession when they came up with their identification.

They had seen him the day before wearing trousers rolled up to the knee in a similar fashion to a person on the CCTV.

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The police also knew that England had been in the company of the two other men about 90 minutes before the time of the burglary.

But the jury found England not guilty of burglary other than and burglary dwelling theft and he walked free from court.

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