HOUSEHOLDERS and motorists ran the gauntlet of multiple burglar and thief Kenneth Worley earlier this year, a court heard.

The three-strike offender went on a spree of trying house and vehicle doors, entering those that were left insecure, until his arrest, after an unsuccessful attempt to drive away from the scene of one of his crimes.

Worley took the keys to the Citroen, plus a phone and some driving documents, after entering the house in New Brancepeth, near Durham, via an unlocked door.

Phillip Morley, prosecuting, said a resident was awoken and ran out to try to prevent Worley leaving in the car, as he revved the engine.

Although the householder managed to grab Worley’s sleeve in the driver’s seat, the defendant was able to drive away along Prospect Terrace.

But, Mr Morley said the Citroen collided with a lamppost a few hundred metres away and he scrambled from the vehicle into some bushes, where police, arriving at the scene, carried out his arrest.

Mr Morley said Worley, who was two-and-a-half times the drink drive limit on a breath test reading, told police he had planned, “to end it all”, that night.

The court heard that earlier on July 24, Worley stole a purse and cigarettes from a home elsewhere in New Brancepeth.

Worley was also before the court after admitting theft from two parked cars in Willington, in April, and he also asked for eight similar offences to be taken into consideration.

Forty-two-year-old Worley, of Lyndhurst Road, Chilton, near Ferryhill, admitted burglary, aggravated vehicle taking, driving while disqualified and unfit through drink or drugs, relating to the New Brancepeth incidents.

John Turner, mitigating, said the one-time professional footballer’s career in the game, with Rochdale FC, was cut short as a teenager after he broke his leg.

Mr Turner added that the defendant’s life “spiralled” after the subsequent break-up of a relationship led him into heavy drinking, while he has also suffered health problems and is still on medication for angina.

Judge Simon Hickey told Worley he caused trauma, misery and financial loss to his victims.

Imposing a prison sentence of 40-months, the first half of which will be behind bars, Judge Hickey also banned Worley from driving for 29 months.