A career burglar, Anthony Kennedy, 45, has been sentenced to five years in prison after admitting to a string of burglaries and thefts that left victims living in fear.
Kennedy, with a long history of theft, was caught after breaking into two homes in Newcastle within a year. At Newcastle Crown Court, prosecutors outlined his crimes, including an attempt to steal a car from one victim after she woke to find him in her dining room.
In another case, Kennedy stole jewelry, a passport, and a games console from a second victim’s home. Additionally, he was convicted of stealing £1,000 from a woman’s purse at a bingo hall in February 2023.
Kennedy, from Heaton Park Court in Heaton, snatched the wallet from a reception desk at Buzz Bingo on Clifford Street, Byker, on February 18, 2023. Just days later, on February 21, he was caught breaking into a home on Teesdale Gardens. After waking the homeowner with a loud thud, the woman discovered him standing in her dining room. She screamed, and Kennedy fled, taking her car keys and attempting to steal her Suzuki Swift before running away on foot.
Kennedy had accessed the house through an open window. A blood-stained hoodie, later identified as belonging to him, was found at the scene.
The woman who was targeted in the Teesdale Gardens burglary said in a statement that she was so terrified by the incident that she struggled to sleep for months afterward. She described feeling afraid whenever night fell and often lay awake listening for sounds in her home.
In a separate burglary on January 19, 2024, Kennedy broke into a house on Stratford Road and stole a PlayStation 5, expensive jewelry, rare coins, a mobile phone, and a passport. Police identified him through CCTV footage, showing him inside the property for about 10 minutes before leaving with the stolen items. The victim expressed how violated he felt, particularly after discovering that his partner’s personal belongings had been ransacked.
Kennedy’s criminal record includes over 100 offenses, 72 of which are theft-related.
The judge condemned Kennedy’s actions, stating that his repeated violations of people’s homes caused significant emotional harm to the victims.
