A convicted criminal busted mid-way through a break-in at an Albion Park house on Monday morning had been out of prison less than two weeks, a court has heard.
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Jamie Lee Cambourn was caught red-handed when police – alerted by a witness – arrived at the house around 9.30am and peered through a window to find Cambourn in the bedroom, allegedly carrying a bag of stolen items.
Upon spotting police outside, Cambourn immediately dumped the bag and fled out a rear sliding door, jumping a rear fence into a neighbouring property before coming to a parallel street.
Police caught up with him in a nearby street and placed him under arrest.
At the time he was wearing gloves and had a bumbag allegedly containing a 12cm-long knife and a syringe.
A search of his pockets allegedly uncovered a small green jewellery box containing earrings, plus three sets of car and house keys and a screwdriver.
When asked where the items had come from, Cambourn allegedly told police “from that house I was in”.
A police check revealed Cambourn had only been released from prison on July 14 after serving a lengthy jail term for unrelated matters.
He allegedly made full admissions to his crime during a subsequent interview, telling police he’d left his home that morning “to find a house to rob”.
He allegedly told officers he knocked on the door of the house in question to see if anyone was home and when no one responded, he jumped a side fence and forced open a sliding door to get inside the premises.
He said he then went through each of the rooms putting various items into the bag including a laptop computer, iPad and mobile phones.
The court heard the witness who saw Cambourn enter the house knew he didn’t live there and had called police.
Cambourn applied for bail in court on Tuesday, with his lawyer saying the 26-year-old’s father could lodge $5,000 with the court to ensure he turned up to future court dates.
The lawyer said Cambourn was due to start a job at Port Kembla next Monday, however if need be, could live with his father in Busbys Flat, north of Grafton, if released.
However, Magistrate Mark Douglass refused the application, noting Cambourn had a lengthy criminal history and the prosecution case against him appeared a very strong one.
