A BURGLAR who stole the ashes of a 91-year-old grandfather panicked when he discovered what he had done — and threw them in the bin.

Grand-daughter Claire Wynn and her family were devastated when they discovered the last remains of John Clarkson had been taken during a break-in at their Burnley home, the town’s crown court was told.

And housebreaker James Andrew Greenwood later wrote to her, offering to let her relatives ‘give him a good beating’ when he was released from custody.

But the letter resulted in Greenwood, 43, also receiving a restraining order preventing him from contacting the family for five years, as he was jailed for 20 months yesterday.

David Traynor, prosecuting, said the Wynns were on holiday when they were informed by a family member that their property in Brownhill Avenue had been broken into.

Mrs Wynn returned to find electrical equipment, including iPads, a digital camera and signed Burnley FC ball, had been stolen. A wooden casket, containing her grandfather’s ashes, a photograph of him, his death certificate and a watch belonging to her late grandmother had also been taken.

Appeals led to Greenwood being suggested as a possible culprit. Police searched his home and no property from the burglary was found — but when officers asked about the ashes, he confessed.

The court heard he had been asked to take part in the raid by a friend who knew the family was on holiday.

Philip Holden, defending, said when the defendant wrote to the family, he was genuinely remorseful. Greenwood, of Deerstone Avenue, Burnley, who admitted burglary, was said to have had a lifelong addiction to hard drugs.