Addict burgled next-door neighbour

A DRUG addict who ransacked the house next-door has been jailed for 13 months.

Gary Parker (27) stole £700 and jewellery from his neighbour while she was shopping.

Parker, now of no fixed abode, had pleaded guilty to burglary at an earlier hearing at Minshull Street Crown Court, Manchester.

Sharon Amesil, prosecuting, said: “On March 31, Harisa Begum was living in Eastbourne Street, Oldham. When she returned from a shopping trip to the town centre she noticed that the front window and one in the living room were open.

“She then saw a filing cabinet in this room had been prised open and that various items of jewellery were gone.

“Mrs Begum found that £700 was missing from the filing cabinet and a Samsung mobile phone valued at £200.

“Two credit cards were also missing and several items of jewellery.”

The court heard that Parker has a long record of burglary convictions.

Stephen Wild, defending, said: “This defendant has a drug habit of long standing and he commits offences to fund it. But he has mandatory drug tests in prison and is currently drug free.”

Sentencing, Judge Leslie Hull said: “It is not the first time you have committed such an offence.

“You received a two-year sentence in 2001 and three years in 2003.”