Anthony Seymour Flowers: No extra jail time for terrifying Floreat burglary 21 years ago after cold case probe

A man who was convicted of a terrifying burglary in Floreat almost 21 years ago after a cold case investigation has dodged additional jail time, with the judge citing “grim” prison conditions. Anthony Seymour Flowers was aged 18 in October 2003 when he went into the backyard of the western suburbs home at 11.15pm and kicked in a glass door to gain entry. The couple who were living there had been watching TV while their young children slept. The husband sprang up to confront Flowers, who claimed to have a knife. There was a brief tussle over the wife’s handbag before the man let go and Flowers fled the scene — leaving behind blood on the shattered glass. It was re-examined using new forensic technology, leading to the now 38-year-old being charged in January. At his District Court of WA sentencing on Friday, Judge Wendy Gillan said Flowers only got his first job last year after a tragic upbringing surrounded by violence and “rife” substance abuse. He began using amphetamines at 13 and was taking it every day when he committed the Floreat burglary. “Now, you come before me, of course, with an extensive criminal history,” Judge Gillan said. “But that’s not the case when you were 18. “You did your last home burglary in 2014, although there was a burglary on a place in 2019. “It seems that you have worked out, even well before you were picked up on this matter, that home burglaries were not a good thing.” Judge Gillan said she had to sentence Flowers as the man he was when he was 18. “So you should have all the benefits of youth because that’s a very significant mitigating factor. “The courts are well aware that young people do things that with the benefit of mature reflection they might not have done.” An email by the victim expressed “a very generous attitude”, saying the children were “very frightened” that night but as a family were not too greatly affected. “The victim goes on and says that he hopes that you have got the capacity for change and you become a role model for other young people,” Judge Gillan said. “No doubt he’s recognised that you were pretty young at the time this happened.” She gave Flowers the full 25 per cent discount for pleading guilty early, accepted he was remorseful and also took into account “pretty grim” conditions at Hakea Prison where he had been on remand. Judge Gillan handed him a five-month jail term, wholly concurrent with a sentence he is already serving for a separate offence. He will be eligible for parole in February.