A HOUSE raider was spotted by police trying to hide his haul in the victims' front garden.

Burnley Crown Court heard how dad Gary Bradley, 24, crept into a house and helped himself to a handbag, after the occupants had left the door unlocked so their sons could get in when they returned home early in the morning.

Bradley, of Brush Street, Burnley, was sent to jail for 15 months after admitting burglary.

He had been committed for sentence by the Burnley, Pendle and Rossendale Magistrates.

Sentencing him, Judge Raymond Bennett said that but for the sharp eyes of the police, he would have got away with it.

He added it caused dreadful inconvenience to people when their bags were taken as everything had to be replaced.

Neil Standage, prosecuting, said the householder had left her handbag and contents in the lounge of her home in the Rosehill area of Burnley, but the door was unlocked. In the early hours, two police officers on duty in the area passed the house and saw the defendant trying to hide something in the front garden. something behind a tree

He was asked what he was doing and he said that he had been relieving himself. A search was made and the handbag and contents were recovered and identified by the victim.