A MAN who was part of a gang of drunken revellers who looted the home of a mother-of-one has been jailed.

Christopher James Robinson went into the woman's home in Lamont Grove, Hartlepool, with a group of drinkers who had been having a party next door.

Within 15 minutes, they smashed the front door with a concrete block, ransacked the house, set fire to curtains and stole the television and PlayStation.

Teesside Crown Court heard that the woman, who has learning difficulties, had earlier been escorted from her home for her safety by police after the drunken gang shouted abuse at her.

Rod Hunt, prosecuting, said: "On February 10, 2004, her next-door neighbours had a riotous party, people got in the front area of the house and shouted abuse towards her, to the extent the police were called and she was escorted from her own home and taken elsewhere for the night."

The court heard that 15 minutes later, police returned to the house and saw smoke coming from upstairs and people running from the property.

Robinson, of Whitfield Drive, Hartlepool, was later connected to the crime after blood found at the scene matched his DNA.

Stephen Constantine, in mitigation, said the 21-year-old had left the house before the damage was caused. He said his client had a problem with alcohol, but that he had managed to break his addiction.

Jailing him for two years after Robinson pleaded guilty to burglary, Judge Peter Fox said: "You played a part in a quite disgraceful, frightening and serious episode of drunken violence."