Burglar whose neighbor set Home Alone-style water bowl trap traced by trail of wet footprints

Akin Akinniran, 30, clambered through the window of Mariamma Sesy’s home on November 4 dressed head-to-toe in black and wearing a mask. But Ms Sesy, who lived next door to Akinniran in Swingfield House, Templecombe, Homerton, east London, was 
so concerned about security she had set her own homemade burglar trap – a row of bowls filled with water under her kitchen window.Last week he was sentenced to five years in prison by Judge Joanna Korner after pleading guilty to aggravated burglary at Snaresbrook Crown Court. Ms Sesy ran into the kitchen and screamed once she heard the bowls smashing as Akinniran climbed through the window, but she did not recognize her neighbor.

Neither did her husband, who also came rushing into the room before Akinniran fled out of the front door. But the couple found a six-inch silver knife in the hallway outside and took photos of a set of wet footprints leading to Akinniran’s front door.
Police carried out DNA testing on the knife and arrested Akinniran, who now lives in London Fields. Akinniran initially denied the offense, but pleaded guilty to aggravated burglary at his preliminary hearing at Snaresbrook Crown Court last Friday. Sentencing him to five years in prison at the hearing, Judge Korner told the court: “The police were very lucky he hadn’t done a runner”.