A BURGLAR fleeing a Nelson home was caught after he dropped his mobile phone while running away.

Caspian Raphael had a photograph of himself on the mobile - and a family member recognised him, Preston Crown Court was told.

An earlier hearing had heard the house was home to members of the Yousaf family, who at the time were mourning the murder of husband and wife Mohammed and Parvaiz and their daughter Tania in Pakistan.

The 20-year-old was given twelve months youth custody, suspended for a year, with twelve months supervision and a hundred hours unpaid work.

Raphael pleaded guilty to the burglary, which took place in June last year.

In a separate hearing, Hal Rattigan, 21, of Halifax Road, Briercliffe, was sentenced to twelve months prison.

He had pleaded guilty to the burglary and also handling 3,000 Euros which had originated from a burglary at a different address.

Adam Watkins, prosecuting, said that a man saw Raphael emerging from a passageway at the side of the house on the day of the burglary. The man was carrying a rucksack and a sliver box.

When confronted, Raphael ran from the scene. In the rucksack were stolen electrical items, jewellery and paper work, as well as a mobile phone that was found after they were dropped.

The mobile contained a photo of Raphael and the man recognised him as the man he had just confronted.

The police were contacted and enquiries showed that within ten or fifteen minutes before the confrontation, there had been recent calls to and from other mobile numbers stored in the memory. One was Rattigan.

The court was also told that Rattigan had been heard to plan the burglary with others. Rattigan drew a map of the house grounds and doorways.

The handling offence related to a burglary in May last year at a home on Kings Causeway, Brierfield.

Martin Hackett, defending Rattigan, said he was scared of the prospect of a custodial sentence, which would be his first.

"He behaved in a very mean way in committing these offences.

"He asserts that he wasn't the mastermind, or anything as grand as that, behind the burglary."

In the case of Raphael, of Richmond Street, Keighley, the court heard there was some element of him having been persuaded to do the crime.