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5.5.  You will read an interview with a burglar, published in the Guardian newspaper.

Pre-reading task. The article deals with the following topics:

The time the writer himself was burgled

Recent research into burglary

The sentences burglars can expect

Danny (the burglar interviewed) (his background, his introduction to crime, how he carries out a burglary, his attitude to the people he steals from)

  • Write questions that you would like answered from the article.

5.5.1. Now read the article. The ten key sentences below have been removed. Decide where they should go.

  1. Research by Maguire and Bennett suggests that burglary has a considerable effect on people’s lives, leaving them uneasy, insecure, even feeling violated.

  2. It was dead easy.

  3. But the lad I did the house with got caught on another job.

  4. Nobody was ever suspicious.

  5. Research in Sheffield suggests that nearly three-quarters of burglars travel less than two miles from their homes to commit the crime.

  6. If I got a job, I’d have to change my whole life-stile.

  7. In ten years’ time I’ll either be doing a ten-year stretch or living it up.

  8. Research by Maguire and Bennett (Burglary in a Dwelling, 1982) into several hundred victims of burglary revealed that willful damage was caused in less than one in a hundred cases.

  9. Burglary is more popular today than ever before.

  10. Within six months Danny had graduated to houses.

Meet The Burglar

I have only been burgled once, and the burglar wasn’t even that successful; he ended up leaving me some of his goods rather than leaving with mine. I could hear him pottering about. I shouted, he ran, leaving a typewriter behind, doubtless removed from a neighbour’s house. I considered myself lucky because of the stories about the mess burglars make when they are on the job – the ransacked rooms, the broken furniture, the meals they cook themselves, the urine.

Crime prevention advertisements exploit such images to persuade people to lock their windows. But my burglar wasn’t like that – he was careful, meticulous and tidy (even if a bit noisy), he didn’t try to cook himself a meal or use my house as a toilet. Apparently he’s like many other burglars. 1 …………

But what kind of person could go into the house of a total stranger and have the skill to find something of value (certainly difficult in my house) – and have no twinge of conscience about removing whatever he could lay his sticky little fingers on? And what’s the probability of it happening again?

According to Maguire and Bennett research it is very likely to happen again. They reckon that the “average British citizen” can expect to be burgled two or three times during his or her lifetime. 2……………… Sentences for house burglary can be quite stiff – the maximum is 14 years – but many burglars today end up in magistrates’ courts facing fines. As another burglar put it to me, “I’d enough in my piggy bank for the first fine”.

But what are burglars really like? How could I meet some personally?

A chain of association eventually led me to Danny (name changed). Still only 20 but already a pro: he’s served his time at his chosen profession in more ways than one. Several hundred burglaries in five years, and two stretches in Borstal and one in prison. In official terms he’s a recidivist. He puts it bluntly: “Money, clothes, and having a good time is my life. 3………………... What would I do with £80 a week? I can spend that in one night. Burglary is the only real skin I’ve got”.

Danny’s profession runs in the family (his father is currently on the run for an armed robbery offence) but he says his family had nothing to do with it. It was his mates. He was 15, they were 16, he was their eager pupil. He started with a warehouse. “We were careful to choose one without a burglar alarm. We got in through a ground floor window. 4………………. We all had a look about and I found a cashbox in a drawer with a hundred quid in it. I couldn’t believe it. It was money for old rope. We blew the money in two days on Indian meals, taxis, and drinks. Then we went out again about three days later. We just get the bus a couple of miles down the road to the Moor or Bramal Lane and have a wander about”. 5…………………

Danny enjoyed his new pastime. “Some nights we’d do three places in the one spot. Sometimes of course you’d find nothing but occasionally you’d hit the jackpot”. 6………………….. We’d usually get the bus to Gleadless, which was a good spot because it borders on a wood. Dead easy to get away. We’d go up in the afternoon and just pick a house that looked empty.

“My two mates would stay in the next street and I’d just go up and knock on the door. If anyone answered I’d say “Is Paul in please?” 7…………………. They’d just say “Sorry, you must be at the wrong house”. If nobody answered I’d just go and get my mates and we’d go round the back and steam in. If the windows were locked we’d put a coat up to the window and knock it in. When I was in, I’d head straight for the bedroom to look for the jewellery case. I’d also look under the mattress straight away. Then it was down to the kitchen. You’d be amazed how many people keep money in the oven, but I’ve even found money stashed in cornflakes boxes.

“We’d never made a mess, at least deliberately – some houses would look a bit untidy afterwards but that’s because you’re looking for things in a hurry. You haven’t got all day. The most I ever got from a house when I was a kid was eight and a half grand in goods – at least that’s what the local paper said. Me and another kid only got a grand and a half for the jewellery and stuff. 8…………………. He grassed on me. I got £554 fine plus probation. Of course, the fine wasn’t that bad. I’d made quite a lot by then. My mum had to pay the fine, though. I’d spent what I’d made”.

Danny leans back in his chair. “It might seem to you that I haven’t been that successful, but I’ve done hundreds of jobs and I’ve never actually been caught on the job. It’s usually people wanting to do themselves a favour with the coppers. I know I’ve got the bottle and the skill. 9………………… I’m not going to change my life style”.

As he got up to go, sun tan, streaked blond hair, expensive leather jacket, all the trimmings of the pop star, I asked him the key question. Do you ever think about your victims? 10………………………

Danny doesn’t think about this. “Why should I? The people I burgle can afford it and jewellers are all bent and bump up the insurance claims. Another thing, I never burgle poor people or old people”.

Danny was beginning to sound like Robin Hood. “But just a minute, you’ve burgled council houses, isn’t that right?”

“Yes”, Danny says, “but loads of ordinary people have stacks of dough stashed away”.

“But do you really mean that if you went to all the trouble of breaking into a house and then discovered that it belonged to an old person, you wouldn’t take anything?”

“Well, not nothing”, says Danny, “but I wouldn’t leave them broke”. And Robin Hood had, before my very eyes, started to metamorphose into the Sheriff of Nottingham. Just enough left in the kitty to survive, when Danny’s high demands were met.

(Guardian 20 October 1984)

5.5.2. Comprehension check:

  1. Which of the questions that you wrote are answered in the article? Did you find any of the information surprising?

  2. What do the following extracts tell us about Danny’s attitude to a life of crime, and life in general:

– “If I got a job, I’d have to change my whole life-stile”.

– “You’d be amazed how many people keep money in the oven…”

– “Of course, the fine wasn’t that bad”.

– “My mum had to pay the fine, though”.

– “It might seem to you that I haven’t been that successful…”

– “The people I burgle can afford it…”

  1. The writer has presented most of the article dispassionately, letting the information and Danny speak for themselves. However, there are times when the writer’s attitude to Danny is apparent. Find them, and comment on his attitude.

5.5.3. You are a youth counsellor. You supervised Danny when he had been released from the youth correction institution of Borstal.

  • Talk about psychology, motives, typical views on life of such youthful offenders.

  • Give information about Danny’s family background, problems at school, cronies, interests, values, high demands.

  • What pushed Danny onto the path of crime, in your opinion?

5.6. Speech practice.

  • Your younger brother has committed a crime. You feel prison will do him no good. It won’t rehabilitate him. You hope to help him by giving a bribe to some officials. Secret thoughts aloud.

  • You are a teacher. Speak about juvenile delinquency at your school.