Drug addict has sentence cut

Bodrul Islam Ali, 26, of Victoria Court, King Offa Way, broke into the holiday home in Combe Haven Holiday Park, St Leonards on Sea, at ten to midnight on September 26 last year.

Ali, who told police he thought the caravan was unoccupied, was grabbed by the holiday makers and admitted after being arrested that he would have stolen any valuables he had come across after getting his drug fix.

Ali was jailed for two-and-a-half years after pleading guilty to burglary and three counts of possession of class A drugs at Lewes Crown Court on April 10 this year.

He was also ordered to serve six months unexpired licence from a previous sentence and told that 195 days he spent on remand would not count towards his term - making a total equivalent sentence of over four years.

On Tuesday, Lord Justice Laws, sitting with Sir Charles Gray and Mr Justice Jack at London's Criminal Appeal Court, quashed the six-month additional sentence and ordered that the time spent on remand should count towards his sentence after all - reducing the term to 30 months.

Ali's previous convictions include a similar offence in 2004 when he terrified 53-year-old Jenny Jones after breaking into her room at the Senlac Guest House, St Leonards, in order to smoke crack, and making off with her purse.

However Lord Justice Laws, giving the judgement of the court today, ruled that the sentencing judge at the Crown Court had inadvertently given Ali the impression that he would not be given a total term of more than two-and-a-half years during his sentencing remarks.

"The judge did give rise inadvertently to a genuine sense of grievance," Lord Justice Laws said, ruling that in the circumstances Ali's appeal against sentence should be allowed.