A 60-YEAR-OLD man who returned to his house to find it was being burgled later discovered the thief had left his mobile phone.

Burnley Crown Court heard how John Jackson heard a ‘clunking’ noise coming from inside the property as if somebody was walking around inside.

Prosecuting, David Clarke said that person was 37-year-old Liam Gibbons.

Not wanting to have a one-on-one confrontation with the burglar Mr Jackson went to get a neighbour. But by the time they got back to Mr Jackson’s Rossendale house, Gibbons, of Sunnybank Street, Haslingden, had left.

Mr Clarke said: “The kitchen door had been smashed in and a black safe he has attached to the wall in the cloakroom in the hall had been ripped off.

“In leaving the scene the defendant left his mobile phone on a small table in the hallway. When officers arrived they set about enquiries to identify the owner of the mobile phone.

"They found the number had been used to call the police in the past about a complaint of some kind. There were also a number of areas where blood had been left behind and a DNA match was made to the defendant.”

The court heard how Gibbons was arrested on December 20, charged and released on bail by the courts.

But the court heard how at 3.10am on January 2 John Pierre, the owner of New Street Garage in Haslingden, got an alert to his phone that the motion sensors had been set off in the property.

A CCTV camera linked to his phone showed footage of Gibbons inside. When officers arrived they found the defendant trying to crawl out under a shutter. He was wearing purple latex gloves, a sock over one of his hands, a hat and was also carrying a torch.

Defending, Peter Gilmour said his client had had a difficult 2017 with the death of two family members, was unable to see his daughter and had turned to alcohol and valium to cope with depression.

Gibbons pleaded guilty to two counts of burglary with intent to steal.

Deputy Circuit Judge Leslie Hull jailed him for 18 months.