Thanks for owning up; here’s more porridge...

A SERIAL burglar was praised by a judge for confessing to more crimes to wipe the slate clean — before being handed an extra stretch in prison.

Gareth Robinson (23), from Shaw, was jailed for 55 months last December for housebreaking and theft, and has now received an extra three and a half years in jail after admitting two more burglaries and two thefts.

Sentencing him at Manchester Crown Court, Recorder John Corless praised him for confessing.

Robinson volunteered information about the crimes under Operation Clean Slate, in which offenders are encouraged to admit to otherwise undetected crimes.

Ben Knight defending, said Robinson, of Leach Street, Shaw, had volunteered to drive round local streets with police to identify properties he had burgled.

Mr Knight said his client recognised his time behind bars was wasting his life, accepted his behaviour had been “disgusting”, and vowed to lead an honest life on his release.

Recorder Corless told him: “You have clearly made efforts to turn your life around, but offending of this nature is very serious, and causes much distress to victims involved.”