A GRIEF-stricken house raider stole a copper water tank, causing the home to be flooded, a court heard.

Peter Thornton, 40, took the tank away in a wheelie bin and sold it for £30.

The victim was gutted by the mess at his home in Colne Road, Burnley, the town's crown court was told.

Thornton wiped away tears as his barrister told the court he had yet to go through the grieving process as well as facing "cold turkey" from his drugs habit.

He had struck whilst subject to a 120 day suspended jail term for an almost identical break-in, the court was told.

The defendant, of Ardwick Street, Burnley, admitted burglary. He was given 10 months in jail, consecutive to the 120 day activated suspended sentence.

Judge Beverley Lunt said whatever pressures Thornton was under, he knew he had a suspended sentence.

She said he had the help of the Probation Service and the addressing substance related offending prog-ramme to get him through his trauma without resorting to drugs but had not taken advantage of and had gone back to heroin. David Macro, prosec-uting, said the victim returned home from work and could not get in as the front door was bolted.

He went into the back of the house, put a light on which blew out immediately and found four to five inches of water. Police later found the defendant's fingerprints.

Bob Elias, defending, said Thornton's long term partner died in the spring and he had flung himself into even more drug abuse than usual, as a way of putting off grieving.