A man fractured his leg in a 20-foot fall during a "courageous" garden-to-garden pursuit of a burglar who broke into his home and stole his partner's diamond ring from a jewellery box.
Jason Jordan, 31, was sentenced to three years in prison by the Royal Court for burglary and an additional six months for a separate charge of handling stolen goods.
The defendant has a lengthy criminal record containing 24 entries, including a 56-month sentence for serious drug offences that ended in December 2018.
In the afternoon of 8 January, Jordan was seen walking past a row of houses on Rocquettes Lane, stopping at the front gate to all the properties which did not have any lights on, before speaking to someone on his phone.
Witnesses said the defendant had been knocking on doors in the area, saying that he was looking for an apartment to rent but must have come to the wrong place. One witness said he looked "out of it or high".
Pictured: Jordan only got out of prison in December 2018 following a four-and-a-half year sentence.
Jordan reportedly walked down some neighbouring roads before walking back past Rocquettes Lane and from there to Upper Saint Jacques, where he unlawfully entered a property at around 15:50.
He claimed he was acting as a lookout for another unidentified man, who broke into an apartment using a spare key, before ushering Jordan into the property and giving him the diamond ring, effectively "setting him up" for the burglary.
The prosecution did not believe the defendant's claims, but did not dispute Jordan's account of the unidentified accomplice, as it made no substantive difference to the charges against him.
When the occupants of the apartment returned home after a 20-minute trip to the post office, they could hear someone upstairs with "heavy footsteps" who was "rifling through the bedroom". The man left out of a utility door and one of the occupants approached the defendant, who had a shoulder bag, in the garden.
Jordan fled over a garden wall and the occupant followed, however he suffered a steep 20-foot drop onto a garden table below. Despite fracturing one of his legs and injuries to both ankles, he managed to continue his pursuit.
He caught up with the defendant in another garden, who told him he "wanted to get his money back" from somebody whose name the victim did not recognise.
Pictured: Jordan has been sent back to prison following his hearting in the Royal Court.
The man asked what Jordan had in his bag and the 31-year-old showed him, among other things, a tandoori pot, which it later transpired had been stolen from another property. That pot forms the basis of the handling stolen goods charge.
The occupant then asked him to empty his pockets and a gold ring containing three diamonds, which belonged to his partner, fell out. Recognising the ring, he picked it up and the defendant started walking off "briskly".
Determined to stop the burglar from escaping, he continued the chase on a route that took them through Upper Saint Jacques, Gibauderie, Rosaire Avenue and Dalgairns Road, as well as numerous private gardens.
At one point, the defendant turned around and raised his fists in a "boxing stance" and said he wanted to be "left alone", before escaping again over a small fence, which he broke. The pursuit eventually ended in a car park adjacent to Guernsey Motor Spares after the occupant managed to flag down some staff to help him stop the defendant from getting away before the police got there.
When officers arrived, body-worn footage showed Jordan telling the other man "I know where you live" and threatening to have him done for assault.
The occupant is still receiving physiotherapy for the injuries, which have restricted his mobility and caused him great pain. "I am very angry about this whole incident but mostly because of the pain," he said.
Pictured: The chase started in Upper Saint Jacques and eventually came to an end around "15 to 20" minutes later in a car park close to Guernsey Motor Spares.
His partner said she was "anxious" about the prospect of the burglar being released from prison because he knows where they live.
Defence Advocate Liam Roffey acknowledged that his client has a "poor record" that was "inextricably linked to his entrenched drug dependency problems."
He had obtained employment upon his release from prison at the end of 2018 and had a renewed sense of purpose and motivation to change. However, he suffered a very difficult bereavement which had brought his road to recovery grinding to a halt.
"I was like a ghost, I was operating without knowing what I was doing," Jordan said. "I just hit self-destruct."
Advocate Roffey added: "He turned to the crutch that has blighted most of his life, self-medicating with "whatever I could get my hands on"."
There were several aggravating factors taken into account in the sentencing, including the fact that Jordan was still under a supervision order at the time of offending.
The burglary and handling of stolen goods also took place while Jordan was on police bail from separate charges in the Magistrate's Court for driving without insurance and the possession of a Class C drug.
Pictured: Judge Russell Finch and a full panel of nine Jurats presided over Jordan's hearing in the Royal Court.
Royal Court Judge Russell Finch said the defendant had offered up a story that "minimised his offending behaviour". He said burglary was uncommon in the island and should be stamped out completely.
"We are only too aware of how unpleasant and concerning burglaries are to victims," he said, adding that the offences appeared to have been carried out under the influence of drugs.
"This is just another example of how pernicious the effects of illicit drugs are on society."
"Guernsey people need a respite from your activities," said Judge Finch, as he sentenced Jordan to a total of three years and six months in prison, backdated to 8 January 2020, the date since which Jordan has been remanded in custody.
In a brief sitting of the Magistrate's Court immediately after the hearing, another two months were added to Jordan's sentence of imprisonment for the illegal driving and drug possession charges.
Pictured top: Jason Jordan was sentenced in Guernsey's Royal Court.
Comments
Comments on this story express the views of the commentator only, not Bailiwick Publishing. We are unable to guarantee the accuracy of any of those comments.