Andrew Billcliff, age 31, of Plaistow

NASHUA – When she arrived home around 4:30 p.m. last Wednesday to discover an empty SUV she didn’t recognize, parked in her driveway with its engine running, a Pelham woman, fearing one or more people may be in her house, went next door to ask her neighbor for help.

Once police were called, the neighbor retrieved a firearm, and while the woman waited at his residence, he made his way over to her home, and soon discovered a man inside, according to police.

The neighbor “then presented his firearm to the unknown male subject,” police said. The suspect complied with the neighbor’s request that he lean against the still-running SUV and stay put until police arrived.

When they did, according to the police reports, the neighbor “immediately announced to officers that he had a firearm.” He complied with officers’ directions to secure the firearm, police said.

They then went to speak with the suspect, whom they identified as Andrew Billcliff, 31, of Plaistow. He fit the description that police were given, police added.

Billcliff allegedly told officers he’d “made a bad decision,” and “I’m ruining my life,” according to police reports.

In speaking with him, police said, officers noticed “a bulge” near his waistline. Concerned Billcliff may be concealing a dangerous weapon, police said officers searched him and discovered the bulge was a bag containing four watches.

When they asked Billcliff where the watches came from, he allegedly responded, “from inside the (expletive) house.”

Police took Billcliff into custody, charging him with one count each of felony burglary and breach of bail conditions.

At his arraignment and bail hearing the following day, in Hillsborough County Superior Court South, Attorney Shea Sennett, a public defender who represented Billcliff at the hearing, argued that the breach of bail charge should be dismissed for “lack of jurisdiction,” pointing out that Billcliff faces that charge in Rockingham County court, not in Hillsborough.

Assistant County Attorney Brett Harpster, the prosecutor, objected to Sennett’s motion, but after reviewing the circumstances, Judge Charles Temple agreed that the charge “would have to be brought in Rockingham County.”

Regarding the burglary charge, Harpster cited Billcliff’s criminal record, which he said includes one New Hampshire conviction but 16 convictions in Massachusetts, in asking Billcliff be held on preventive detention.

The charges are a mix of theft, drug possession, receiving stolen property and breaking and entering in the daytime, along with one conviction for armed robbery, for which Billcliff did a year behind bars.

Sennett, meanwhile, asked for $1,000 cash bail for Billcliff, with orders that he live at his Plaistow residence, stay away from the Pelham home he is accused of burglarizing, and remain on good behavior.

Sennett said Billcliff and his fiancee have a young child, and that he supports the three of them by working in the construction industry.

He is currently involved in a medically-assisted drug treatment program, Sennett said, but Billcliff would agree to a 28-day inpatient program. “He is willing to do whatever type of treatment the court orders,” Sennett said.

But Temple, noting “the circumstances of (Billcliff’s) arrest, and your criminal history,” ordered preventive detention pending his next court appearance, which will take place in February.

Dean Shalhoup may be reached at 594-1256 or dshalhoup@nashuatelegraph.com.