Woman's '˜heart sank' after burglar returns to her Luton home eight years after previous conviction

A Luton man convicted of burglary in 2010 has been jailed again after breaking into a woman's home for a second time eight years later.

Parvinder Lagah, 36, of Beechwood Road, Luton, pleaded guilty to burglary at Luton Crown Court on Wednesday, and was sentenced to two years and six months in prison.

Lagah broke into neighbour’s address on August 1 last year, gaining entry by lifting a pane of glass from the kitchen window.

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Scenes of Crime Officers were able to lift fingerprints from the glass. The prints forensically matched fingerprints from Lagah, who had previously pleaded guilty to a burglary at the exact same house in 2010.

After the victim confirmed that she was the only person who cleaned her windows, that she’d had no work done to the windows over the previous two years, and that Lagah had never been granted access to her home, he was arrested.

Nothing had been taken from the property, and the only room searched by Lagah was the victim’s bedroom.

In interview, he answered no comment to all questions, and was eventually charged.

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In a statement read out in court, the victim said: “When the police told me that they had found Parvinder’s fingerprint on my kitchen window, my heart sank. I couldn’t believe he would do this to me again. The incidents shook me up, and affected my feeling of security in my own home.”

Detective Constable Jason Wheeler, who investigated the incident, said “Lagah has now targeted the same property twice, and I am glad he has received a custodial sentence.

“Knowing she has been targeted twice by the same person is obviously very upsetting for the victim, and I hope while he’s behind bars he can think about the impact of his actions.

“Burglary is a priority for Bedfordshire Police, and in dealing with victims of these incidents we understand how distressing it is for someone to enter your home without your consent.

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“We work very hard to bring offenders like Lagah to justice; not only to make sure they can’t offend again for the foreseeable future, but also to try and secure some sense of justice for our victims.

“We continue to run dedicated operations to target individuals like Lagah, who think this kind of brazen behaviour in Bedfordshire is acceptable.”