After years as a crook, now I can train cops

Reformed ex-burglar tells of his new mission to help end scourge of crime

- AMY REAST & THOMAS GEORGE

A REFORMED professional burglar who has broken into 20,000 homes is now teaching criminology and police students his old tricks.

Darryl Kennedy, 61, started breaking and entering at the age of nine - and has been banged up four times. He says he is now on the straight and narrow after 41 years of targeting the rich and famous swiping diamonds and jewels before leaving without a trace.

The former crook served five years in prison for a string of 140 high-value robberies in Cheshire, before his release in 2019. Now he's been enlisted by several universities including the University of Salford to deliver lectures to the next generation of coppers on how to catch cat burglars like him.

He teaches students his golden rules from his past such as how he would avoid open-plan houses, look out for low-quality window frames, and make a beeline for the master bedroom where the jewellery would always be.