A DRINK and drug addict resorted to burgling his own sister’s home, knowing she was on holiday, a court heard.

Lee Robertson asked a neighbour if he could borrow a crow bar prior to committing the crime, on August 25 last year.

Durham Crown Court heard that the neighbour reluctantly agreed, on the basis that it would not be used for unlawful purposes.

But, Lewis Kerr, prosecuting, said some time that night it was used by Robertson to gain access to his sister’s home, a few doors away, in Shildon.

Mr Kerr said Robertson was seen running from the property – and his own brother, who was keeping an eye out on their sister’s home while she was away saw, him in the vicinity.

When police attended a damaged patio door was found to be the point of entry, but there was little disruption apart from the removal of a tin, containing £10 in change.

Although Patterson denied responsibility, he was blamed by his sister, who was to be a trial witness.

But his barrister, Richard Herrmann, said, having briefly spoken to his sister outside the court, Robertson wanted to change his plea.

Robertson, 33, of Laurel Court, Shildon, admitted the break-in, making him a “third-strike” burglar.

Mr Herrmann said: “His sister desperately wanted him to admit what he had done, and wanted him to go to custody to dry out from his alcohol and drug addiction, but not for a long period.”

Jailing him for 13-months, Judge Simon Hickey said he was taking the exceptional course of stepping back from the usual three-year term for third-strike offenders