A prolific burglar who told police 'you're lucky I'm not grooming girls' after being arrested over a string of raids worth more than £19,000 has been jailed for three years and four months.

Neville Stanbury, 58, stole laptops, mobile phones, iPads and other electronic equipment from businesses across the City of London between December 2025 and April 2026, despite being banned from entering the Square Mile under a ten-year criminal behaviour order.

Southwark Crown Court heard Stanbury carried out seven burglaries and attempted an eighth, targeting offices, barristers' chambers and businesses including insurance firm Zego, finance company VFX Financial, IT firm Wavenet and recruitment agency GH Engage.

The total value of the stolen property was £19,570.

Stanbury, who has 50 previous convictions covering around 140 offences over more than three decades, admitted the offences and was described by prosecutors as a serial offender whose criminal record stretches back to 1984.

Matthew Jolliffe, prosecuting, said Stanbury was repeatedly captured on CCTV during the burglary spree, often wearing the same distinctive green cap.

On December 28, 2025, he raided offices on Eastcheap occupied by GH Engage, Roar Fitness and Zego, stealing laptops and phones worth more than £6,000.

On January 23, he smashed through the front doors of 3 Hare Court in the Inner Temple and entered the barristers' chambers, remaining inside for seven minutes before leaving.

Mr Jolliffe said: 'He is known to these premises as he was previously banned after entering the premises with intent to steal.'

Further burglaries followed in March and April this year, including raids on Wavenet, VFX Financial, City and Commercial Insurance, and Hubflow, where electronic goods worth thousands of pounds were stolen.

When interviewed by police, Stanbury responded dismissively to the allegations.

Asked about offences he could not remember, he said: 'I probably done them, so what?' and added: 'If you are telling me I did it then I did it.'

The court heard he also expressed frustration about people stealing his own possessions and told officers they were 'lucky he had not done worse', adding: 'You're lucky I'm not grooming girls.'

When challenged about breaching his criminal behaviour order, Stanbury allegedly replied: 'So what?'

The court heard Stanbury has long funded a heroin addiction through burglary. He insisted to police he was 'not some druggy', claiming he used heroin to 'calm himself down'.

Ben Hargreaves, defending, described Stanbury as a 'hopeless drug addict'.

'Once an addiction takes its grip it is hard, without sustained and professional help, to rid oneself of the addiction,' he said.

'The tragedy is that he is someone who is nearly 60 and he keeps coming back before the court.'

The court heard Stanbury was banned from entering the City of London until the end of 2031 after a previous burglary spree in which he stole almost £40,000 worth of electronic items from businesses. 

In 2016 he was jailed for four and a half years after stealing around £32,000 worth of property during a five-month campaign targeting offices and legal premises.

Judge Christopher Hehir said Stanbury had committed the latest offences in 'flagrant breach' of the criminal behaviour order and noted that previous attempts at rehabilitation had failed.

'Only a prison sentence of some length is appropriate in your case,' he said.

The judge criticised Stanbury's attitude towards authority figures, telling him: 'Whatever problems you have in your life you adopt a truculent and confrontational approach to authority figures.

'You tend to blame others for your misfortunes rather than consider whether you are to blame.'

Addressing the root cause of the offending, the judge added: 'The only person who can truly help you is you.

'No-one puts a gun to your head and forces you to take heroin or other drugs, and no-one puts a gun to your head and forces you to go out burgling.

'You have a choice - go on wasting more of your life in prison and possibly dying in prison, or look in the mirror and resolve to change your ways.'

Stanbury, formerly of Hither Green and Old Kent Road, pleaded guilty to seven counts of burglary, one count of attempted burglary and one count of breaching a criminal behaviour order.