An EX-SCOTS Guard turned burglar left empty-handed when he raided a community sports club three times in one night.

First Peter John Garth, 57, failed to break a window with a tool he had brought with them to the Ryedale venue, prosecutor Marc Atkins told York Crown Court.

Returning with an axe about an hour later, he smashed the glass and again left without entering the club.

When he came back a third time, he climbed in through the window, but despite knocking the till down, smashing into a gaming machine and throwing charity tins to the floor, he didn’t manage to steal anything. In all he caused damage that cost the club £198 to repair.

He was wearing gloves, but left one of them on the floor with his DNA on it, said Mr Atkins. Garth’s actions were captured at length on the club’s CCTV. Police tracked him down and arrested him.

Garth, of Bull Lane, off Hull Road, York, who also lives at his partner’s house a five-minute walk from the sports club, pleaded guilty to burgling Sherburn Community Sports Club in Vicarage Road, Sherburn near Malton.

He wore a set of medals as he stood in the dock at the crown court to hear Judge Simon Hickey say that Garth had prepared for the burglary, and after he broke the window on his second visit, had deliberately left to see if he had set off any alarm and whether the police would come.

When he realised he hadn’t alerted anyone, he had returned to climb into the club.

The judge said as Garth had an address in the village, he would know the effect burgling the club would have on the local community.

Garth was given an 11-month prison sentence suspended for 18 months on condition he does 18 days’ rehabilitative activities. He must also pay £198 compensation to the club to repair the damage he caused and £300 prosecution costs.

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For him, Samuel Sharp said Garth had been in the Scots Guards until 1990 and “deeply regrets his actions of September 27”. He had since worked as a builder.

At the time, the ex-army man was in an “emotionally fragile state” because of his partner’s state of health.

He had also been involved in a “local dispute” with a family connected to the club and he had committed the burglary because of both factors.

He had had a mental breakdown in 2017 and was currently unable to get work because of his mental state. He still needed support and professional help.

Mr Atkins said Garth’s first visit to the club had been at 2.30am on September 27. When he returned for the third time, he had a backpack on.

When police arrested him, they found an identical backpack in Garth’s partner’s car and a hatchet axe similar to the one used in the burglary in her garden.