Cliff leap burglar jailed

An audacious burglar who jumped 245 feet off a cliff to escape pursuing police officers was jailed yesterday.

Samuel Aitken, 31, scaled the Avon Gorge cliffs after leaping over a barrier at the Clifton Suspension Bridge in Bristol after breaking into a nearby flat.

Mr Aitken stole a laptop, iPod and a set of keys, worth a total of £2,000, by climbing a lamppost and crawling into the flat in Sion Lane via a skylight.

A neighbour called police after seeing him climb on to the roof and hearing breaking glass as Mr Aitken made his escape by smashing a lounge window at around 8.20 p.m. on August 8.

Bristol Crown Court heard that, as Mr Aitken walked away from the house with the laptop under his arm, a police car pulled up alongside him.

Mr Aitken threw the Apple computer into the open window of the police car and fled towards the bridge.

High on drink and drugs, he jumped over the railings and scaled down the rocky cliff face, popular with experienced rock climbers, on to the busy Portway road below.

He tried to flag down cars before police arrived.

Richard Posner, prosecuting, told the court today: "He told officers that he 'had to give it a go', pointing to the cliffs, and complained of sore legs."

The court heard that Mr Aitken was a career criminal who had spent 14 years of his life in prison with 21 convictions for 35 burglary offences.

Darren Burleigh, defending, said: "When I asked him why he jumped over the bridge into what would have seemed like a precipice, he answered 'If I made it, I made it, if I didn't, I wouldn't know much about it'.

"Throwing caution to the wind, if that is not too flippant a comment, he clearly was not thinking."

Judge Neil Ford QC sentenced Mr Aitken to 34 months in prison.