VIDEO: Prison term for pub ‘worm burglar’

A criminal dubbed the ‘worm burglar’ has been jailed for a string of pub thefts in the UK.

Leigh Cassidy, 47, emptied gaming machines of £7,000 after crawling along the floor to avoid the activation of alarms.

Pubs targeted between March 2013 and May 2014 were The Hinds Head, The Wilfred Wood and The Moor Top in Stockport, The Trevor Arms in Chorlton and The Sidings in Levenshulme.

Cassidy, of Hyde Road, Gorton was sentenced at Manchester Minshull Street Crown Court to four-and-a-half years in prison after he pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing to burglary.

Detective Constable Adele Coulter said: “On each occasion, Cassidy broke into the pub and, in an effort to avoid the alarm sensors, he crawled through the pub on his front until he got to his target – hence his nickname, the worm burglar.

“Once there, he raided the gaming machines, stealing hundreds of pounds.

“Once he had finished, he crawled back to where he had broken in and left, sometimes activating the alarm but by this time he had already escaped.

“Thankfully, we received information he had been involved in a burglary using the same tactic and we managed to link him with the remaining crimes.

“Cassidy thought he was being clever and was getting away with it but it goes to show that crime does not pay and you will be brought to justice eventually.”