A TEENAGER has been locked up for burgling a Bromsgrove care home housing 32 people with dementia.

A care worker saw Harry Roddis-Grizzell climbing out of a window at Regency Court Care Home in Stourbridge Road on May 18.

The 19-year-old, of Beoley Lane, Redditch, appeared at Worcester Crown Court to be sentenced on Friday (June 16).

Ian Ball, prosecuting, said a care worker heard noises coming from a ground floor cupboard and noticed the door was slightly ajar at around 3.40am.

She saw Roddis-Grizzell leaving through a sitting room window, dropping 4ft to the ground before running off.

Three sets of keys were discovered missing including ones for the kitchen, dryer cupboard and a fob key for the doors.

Police later discovered a man fitting the defendant's description walking along the same road.

Mr Ball said: "He was extremely wet and dirty as if he had been through a hedge and he was asked to get into the back of the police car."

Roddis-Grizzell was arrested and the keys were recovered.

In an interview the following day, he told police he had been drinking heavily with his girlfriend at Fever nightclub in Redditch, but they had argued and he left. He claimed to know nothing of the burglary and said he had never been to the care home.

The burglary breached a suspended sentence, implemented on April 23 for a six-month prison sentence.

He had five previous convictions for 22 offences, including aggravated vehicle taking, assaulting a police officer and possession of a bladed article.

There was a suggestion that Roddis-Grizzell had come face-to-face with a resident during the burglary but there was no clear evidence.

Glenn Cook, defending, said: "He has little if any recollection at all of this offence. He did not appreciate this was an occupied care home for dementia patients."

Roddis-Grizzell had not targeted the premises, he told the court. It was 'reckless, alcohol-related behaviour' with no weapon or tool used to break in.

"Quite clearly something has gone wrong which has led to this defendant drinking as a coping mechanism and to commit offences without any thought for consequences,” said Mr Cook. “He has expressed to me suicidal ideation."

Judge Nicholas Cole, sentencing, said: "It was the burglary of a care home in which vulnerable and elderly residents with dementia lived. It was their home.

"This was a burglary of a care home. It's a nasty offence.”

Roddis-Grizzell was sentenced to 12 months in a young offender’s institution, half of which could be served in the community on licence.