A BURGLAR who re-offended within a month of being given a suspended sentence has been jailed.

Drug addict Michael Jacques was said by his own barrister, Martin Towers, to have a “shocking” criminal record.

Jacques, 30, of Nickstream Lane, Darlington, had been given a suspended jail sentence in October this year for burglary.

But between November 2 and 5 he broke into an empty house that was being renovated in Pennine Close, Darlington, stealing a camcorder, digital camera and a key.

The crime was captured on CCTV cameras. Jacques was at it again shortly afterwards, on November 11, burgling another unoccupied house in Oakhurst Road, Darlington, and leaving his fingerprints on a kitchen window.

He admitted two offences of burglary and also asked for two further offences, a theft from a skip and the burglary of a garden shed, to be taken into account.

Judge Tony Briggs, sentencing him at Teesside Crown Court, said he was a long-term drug addict with a “typical drug addict's record”.

Jacques had complained that he was not getting the help he needed for an amphetamine addiction, despite being given access to a drug treatment course.

Judge Briggs said he had no alternative but to jail Jacques for a year, plus a further 18 weeks which he added to his sentence.

He also ordered him to pay a £100 victim's surcharge.