GUILT at committing burglary offences way back in 2004 played on a man's conscience so much that he decided to wipe the slate clean and confess to the police eight years later.
He walked into a police station in a bid to "take responsibility for his actions", told officers what he had done – and took a gamble by throwing himself on the mercy of the courts.
But he was rewarded when a judge praised him for wanting to make a "true fresh start" and decided not to lock him up.
Scott Gregory, 25, of Brookfield Road, Scartho, admitted burglary between December 28 and 30, 2004.
Gordon Stables, prosecuting, told Grimsby Crown Court that Gregory went to the town's police station on October 31 this year and said he wanted to admit two burglaries.
The details were married up to known burglaries. One of them was at a cottage in Waltham Road, Grimsby, in 2004 in which he stole car keys and took a car from outside. The vehicle was found a few days later but a mobile phone and memory stick were not recovered.
Gregory asked for a burglary in Grimsby Road, Waltham, from December 2004 to be considered, involving taking a car. It had been burned out by him in a bid to hide his fingerprints because he was not wearing gloves.
He also asked for an offence of taking a car without consent in July this year to be considered. He forced the car's door back, hot-wired the car and drove to Immingham.
Simon Hirst, mitigating, said the case was "truly exceptional" and there was no better demonstration of Gregory taking responsibility for his actions than going to the police station to confess.
Recorder Richard Woolfall told Gregory: "You would have got away with what you did. You did get away with it.
"You have gone back to the police station because you want to make a true fresh start. You have taken the view that you really do want to draw a line under your offending and you want to grow up.
"You must have known there was a chance of custody but that didn't stop you wanting to do the decent thing.
"You are in employment, working six days a week, and the progress you have made has been very good indeed."
Gregory was given an eight-month prison sentence, suspended for two years, with a specified activity involving restorative justice.
Recorder Woolfall told him: "I hope that by dealing with you in this way, it may encourage others to do the same. Don't do anything daft in the next two years or you will start with eight months."
