Robert Augustus Delaney (died 1948) was a British

cat burglar Burglary, also called breaking and entering and sometimes housebreaking, is the act of entering a building or other areas without permission, with the intention of committing a criminal offence. Usually that offence is theft, robbery or murder ...

, who indeed is credited as being the first such thief. His two main tools were a length of black silk rope, and a long, slender tool which could undo latches. Dressed in formal evening wear, he would use the rope to scale wealthy homes, and then enter the windows with the slender tool. In 1924,

Scotland Yard Scotland Yard (officially New Scotland Yard) is the headquarters of the Metropolitan Police, the territorial police force responsible for policing Greater London's 32 boroughs, but not the City of London, the square mile that forms London's ...

finally succeeded in apprehending him, and he spent four years in jail, after which he was arrested and convicted multiple times. He died on 14 December 1948 in Parkhurst Prison.

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