Man jailed for three years following burglary series in the New Forest

A 27-year-old man has been jailed for three years after admitting to a number of charges in relation to burglaries across the New Forest.

Zachary Southern, of no fixed abode, pleaded guilty to seven counts of burglary. These incidents occurred between Friday 18 December 2020 and 10 October 2020 and Wednesday 13 January 2021 at various locations in the New Forest including Brockenhurst, Dibdin Purlieu, Marchwood and Lymington.

Southampton Crown Court heard today (5 July) how Southern begun his spree of offending on Friday 18 December 2020 when a garage on Beaulieu Road in Dibdin Purlieu was broken into and a number of bikes and a paddleboard were stolen. He then proceed to burgle a house on Woodside Close in Marchwood between Sunday 3 January and Monday 4 January 2021 where electrical items. A bike was also stolen from a shed the same morning (4 Jan) from a property on Spindlewood Way in Marchwood.

He continued his offending a week later when a garage on Kings Road in Lymington was broken into and a number of tools and a high-value bike were stolen. The offending stopped after a number of properties on Woodlands Road in Brockenhurst were broken into between Tuesday 12 January and Wednesday 13 January, where items including a bike, inflatable kayak and an outboard engine were stolen.

Southern pleaded guilty to these offences and was handed a sentence of three years imprisonment on Monday 5 July.

Following the sentencing, the Officer in Case, Charlie Buckingham from Hampshire Constabulary’s Western Operation Hawk team, said: “I welcome this sentence and hope it goes some way to providing closure for the victims. The distress that crimes like this can cause victims is immeasurable.

“We hope that this provides reassurance to local communities that we take crimes like this very seriously and investigate all available lines of enquiry to identify those responsible and bring them to justice.

“Southern survived on committing these crimes until we were able to apprehend him and put a stop to his offending – he will now no longer be able to be a threat to the local communities of the New Forest.”