A DRUG user was caught driving a Mitsubishi Outlander 50 miles from where it was stolen in a burglary, a court heard.

John Michael Kirk, 46, was using the vehicle to go to a Darlington chemist's within hours of it being taken from a driveway in Huntington Road, York.

Prosecutor Beth Richardson told York Crown Court the stolen 4x4 was worth about £10,000.

But police were on the look-out for the car because it had been reported stolen and Kirk was arrested. In the car were a mobile phone and everything else stolen in the burglary.

The court heard Kirk had 228 previous convictions, most of them for dishonesty including burglary and 13 for handling stolen goods.

Kirk, of Borough Road, Darlington, pleaded guilty to handling stolen goods.

The Recorder of York, Judge Stephen Ashurst, told him: "You are someone with an utterly shocking record. You are a prolific burglar, thief and handler of stolen goods." He jailed Kirk for 30 months.

Kirk was on parole at the time from a previous sentence. Since being released partway through a four-year prison sentence imposed at Teesside Crown Court in 2012 for burglary, he had broken his parole conditions eight times.

He was also subject to a community order when he was arrested. He has since been recalled to serve the remainder of the four-year sentence.

His solicitor advocate Stephen Andrews said he had "been between addresses" at the time, so when someone had offered him the use of the car so he could drive into Darlington to pick up a methadone prescription he had accepted it.

"It was a foolish decision," said the lawyer.