A HOUSE breaker has escaped jail, even though a judge told him he had 'pencilled in' a significant sentence.

Burnley Crown Court was told how Darren Lord, 30, took copper boilers -- in one premises causing a flood in the downstairs. In the raid, syringes were discarded about the ground floor and blood had been smeared across the bathroom walls.

Lord was given an 18-month community rehabilitation order, with the Think First programme, after admitting burglary and asking one offence to be considered.

Sentencing the defendant, of Sedburgh Street, Burnley, Judge Peter Smith said he had planned a jail term until he was told of the unusual nature of the offences.

He added such offending was totally unacceptable as the first property was being lived in and the occupant came home to find her place ransacked and despoiled.

The judge added if the defendant breached the order, prison awaited.

Anthony Cross, defending, said Lord was a drug addict but had been receiving help from the community drugs team.