Two West Cumbrian men who broke into a Workington clothing shop were arrested charged and sentenced to prison for burglary – all in less than 48 hours.

Sean McAvoy, 47, from Peter Street in Whitehaven and Liam McConnell, 28, of Gameriggs Road in Whitehaven appeared at Workington Magistrates’ Court today (4 July).

McAvoy pleaded guilty to burglary and three counts of theft from a shop and was sentenced to eight months in prison.

McConnell pleaded guilty to burglary and was sentenced to six months in prison.

The court heard how police were alerted to a break-in at Trespass in Workington shortly after 12.10am on Monday (3 July).

Officers checked CCTV and recognised McAvoy and McConnell, who had bragged to officers they came upon earlier in the evening that they would “get up to no good tonight and there is nothing the police could do about it”.

Officers responding to the break-in began a search and located clothing at various points around the town, which led them to an address in Workington.

Upon entering, both men were found inside – along with numerous items of Trespass clothing, still with security tags on, hanging in different rooms of the address.

The clothing recovered had an approximate value of more than £1,300. Some of the clothing was stained with blood after McAvoy suffered a cut to his elbow during the break-in.

McAvoy admitted the burglary in his police interview whilst McConnell refused to answer questions but admitted the offence at court.

Detective Sergeant Lawrence Burden said: “Both men were traced extremely quickly following the report of the break-in and the evidence of their guilt was so overwhelming that they had no choice but to admit the offences at court.

“No doubt many people will have walked past the Trespass store on Monday morning and will have noticed the damage caused to a local business.

“We hope those same people will get word that those who committed the offences have been so swiftly identified, arrested, charged, convicted and sentenced to periods of imprisonment.”