A COUPLE have been jailed after a neighbour’s home was stripped of “everything but the kitchen sink”.

Amanda Heseltine, 27, made repeated visits to the victim's home on Pine Street, Nelson, helping herself to anything that could be moved including the fireplace, pictures from the walls and make-up.

Lisa Wilson, who was not insured, returned to the property to find only the kitchen units left downstairs, Burnley Crown Court heard.

Heseltine was jailed for 18 months for burglary along while her partner, Richard Connell, was jailed for 15 months after he admitted handling stolen goods.

The pair, of Manor Street, Nelson, also admitted producing cannabis which was discovered when police raided their home. Heseltine also pleaded guilty to extracting electricity.

Police said after the case that the couple were responsible for a “massive breach of trust” which had left their victim traumatised.

Judge Andrew Woolman told Heseltine, who used to work at Burnley General Hospital, the burglary was mean and determined.

He added: "It’s clear the owner's life has been turned upside down by what you have done. She is finding it difficult to resume her normal life."

Lynn Whaites, prosecuting, said last April Miss Wilson went to Scotland and returned two weeks later to find her house had been emptied.

The haul included tables, DVDs, furniture, jewellery, computers, televisions, stereos, the washing machine, tumble drier, fridge freezer, all her clothes, possessions and even her bedding. Goods worth £7,758 had been taken.

Blood and fingerprints left at the scene led police to Heseltine.

On May 16 police went to a house on Belgrave Street, Nelson, and found 10 cannabis plants growing in the pantry, with lighting, heating and ventilation. Miss Wilson's deep fat fryer and other property was there and the key to her house was in Heseltine's handbag.

Miss Whaites said the victim was totally shocked and disgusted to find her home ransacked and that one of her neighbours was responsible. She moved away from the area and was off work sick for six months.

Hugh Barton, for Heseltine, said her life had gone into a downward spiral after her mother died from a drugs overdose in 2007. There were signs it was deliberate and the family had been traumatised.

The defendant's life changed and she developed problems with cannabis and amphetamine. She and her partner used cannabis and grew it as a cost cutting exercise.

Defending Connell, Martin Hackett said he had no previous convictions for dishonesty.

PC James Williamson, who was based in Nelson and worked on the case last year, said: “They broke in when the aggrieved had gone away for the two week Easter break.

“She has come home to find the back window broken and all the contents of the house, including sentimental and personal items like jewellery, gone.

“It’s a massive breach of trust. They were neighbours who she though she could trust and they have breached that by every means possible.”