Arkwright ‘burglar’ trapped in window for five hours was just looking for somewhere to sleep

It was January and he had no gloves. The hapless intruder who became wedged in the windows of the Arkwright building was trying to find somewhere to sleep.

The homeless man discovered by students Dan De-Niet, 20, and Tom Burdett, 19, who found him on their way home from a night out.

Carl Attar, 27 who was stuck 10ft above the ground for five hours, has been found not guilty of burglary.

Magistrates heard he was simply trying to find somewhere warm to spend the night.

Drug addict Attar, from Albania, vowed to “change his ways” after medics told him he could have lost his legs if he had been stuck in the window any longer. He told the court: “I thought I was going to die.”

Nottingham Magistrates Court also heard that Mr Attar had nowhere to stay that night and found himself in the city centre after taking amphetamines.

He said he saw the open window and decided to “climb inside to find somewhere warm to sleep”.

Unfortunately he became wedged in the window. Mr Attar said: “I don’t know what it was. My legs just got caught and after a while I lost the circulation in my legs.

“I had been there so long, my legs had pins and needles and my shins felt like they had been cut badly”

This was when students finally heard his cries for help, called 999 and was freed by firefighters. Mr Attar spent two days at Queen’s Medical Centre before being charged with burglary with intent to steal.

The homeless man’s solicitor, Ian Carter, told the court, “He was a homeless drug addict loner who had nowhere else to go. The question is, did he intend to steal?

“No. What he intended to do was find somewhere warm to go to sleep. He had no gloves and no means of carrying any items”.

Speaking after the case, Mr Attar, of no fixed address, said he was not a burglar and had always admitted his previous crimes.

He added: “I wasn’t bothered about the students laughing – I just wanted to get down. Doctors told me another half an hour and I would have to have my legs amputated.”