A THIEF who burgled the house of a vulnerable pensioner who had been taken to a care home because of his ill-health has been jailed.

Burnley Crown Court heard how the grand-daughter of 86-year-old victim Eric Stansfield had not told him about the burglary carried out by father-of-two John David Jolley for fear of upsetting him.

Prosecutor Stephen Parker said Emma Stansfield, who had been looking out of her home, saw a man acting suspiciously outside the property in New Line, Bacup, on October 28.

The following day she received a phone call from the police to say the property had been burgled.

Mr Parker said that when Ms Stansfield arrived back at the property she found that every room of the property had been ransacked and a £500 flatscreen TV and an expensive watch stolen. Those items have never been recovered.

The court heard that 30-year-old Jolley had smashed the window at the top of the kitchen door and climbed into the house. 

But he had cut his hand in the process and crime scene investigators identified him by his blood.

Jolley, of Illminster Flats, Rochdale, pleaded guilty to burglary.

Defending, Elizabeth Evans said her client’s father and grandfather had died in a matter of days and his two children had been taken into care. All that had led to him relapsing and turning back to drugs.

Ms Evans said: “He is remorseful. He presents as genuinely remorseful. He was motivated by sleeping rough. 

“He is a habitual drug user. He does say in this offence he was motivated purely by food.
“He does wish to apologise to the victim in this case. He wasn’t aware of the vulnerability but he does wish to apologise and he has no excuse for it.”

Judge Simon Medland QC said: “You have a perfectly dreadful record. 
“While I commend the steps you have recently taken and sincerely hope that resolve is crystallised in the coming years, you will understand the only sentence I can impose on you is immediate custody.”

Jolley, who has 22 convictions for 72 offences, was jailed for eight months.