A TEENAGE home raider who struck for a third time has been locked up four years after he committed his first break-in.

Jason Holmes, 19, kicked his way into the property on Hammond Avenue, Stacksteads, while he had been subject to a suspended jail term, a court heard.

Prosecutors said he claimed he thought there was cannabis in the house.

Burnley Crown Court was told how he went into the premises, found nothing and then climbed out an upstairs window.

He at first gave police a false name and address, denied the raid on the property and insisted he would not be forensically linked to it, prosecutors said.

However, forensic examiners found the teen’s fingerprints on the window, the court heard.

Holmes, of Shannon Square, Burnley, who admitted burglary with intent to steal on July 6, committed his first burglary when he was just 15.

He was given a total of 918 days' detention in a young offenders institution, the mandatory 876 days for the “third strike” burglary and the six weeks suspended term.

Mercedeh Jabbari, prosecuting, said the victim had lived at the house for 20 years and was in the process of selling it when Holmes struck.

The court heard the owner received a call In the early hours from neighbours who had heard noises.

Miss Jabbari said when officers attended they found the back door had been kicked off its hinges and a window was open.

He was arrested and interviewed, claiming he was called Jason Smith as he had not had the best relationship with police and made no comment.

The defendant had 38 previous offences on his record. He had been given six weeks in custody, suspended for a year by magistrates, in March.

Richard Taylor, defending, said: “He he had been told there was cannabis within the house. That's why he went in.

“He's got to grow up a lot. It's a shame he's got to do that at Forest Bank prison.”