Injured Cliviger soldier spared jail over raid on aunt's farmhouse

Injured Cliviger soldier spared jail over raid on aunt's farmhouse

10:00pm Tuesday 30th October 2012 in News

AN ex-soldier left with a brain injury after being blown up in Afghanistan was spared jail for a 'premeditated' raid on his aunt and uncle's Rossendale farmhouse, in which he took a 5,500 haul.

Ashley Clark lost friends and suffered life-changing injuries as a teenager, when he and comrades were the victims of a roadside bomb in August 2010.

He was flown back to hospital in Birmingham for treatment, with his future in the army in tatters.

Clark may yet have to have an operation to remove a cyst from over the brain injury, Burnley Crown Court heard.

The hearing was told how Clark stole cash and a 5,000 Rolex watch from the Bacup farmhouse home of Mr and Mrs Collin Collier, knowing they kept valuables in a secret drawer in the property.

Clark also helped himself to 300 cash from the purse of his aunt, said to have been keeping for a headstone, and 173 in pound coins from a jar, while the family was out celebrating a birthday.

Clark, a former member of the Duke of Lancaster's infantry, who had left his aunt very upset by his betrayal, had faced being locked up for breaching the Colliers' trust and their home.

But, he was given a "final chance "by a judge who told him his guilty plea was what had stood between him and immediate custody.

The rest is here:
Injured Cliviger soldier spared jail over raid on aunt's farmhouse