A burglar who targeted the bedsits of Teesside University students and stole computer equipment was jailed for 29 months yesterday.

Heroin addict Christopher Thompson, 25, broke into houses in the centre of Middlesbrough that were rented by students.

During one raid, he stole a computer worth more than £1,000.

Following his arrest, Thompson showed police eight houses he had burgled, said Shaun Dryden, prosecuting.

Thompson said that he was stealing to feed his and his girlfriend's heroin addiction.

He had since joined a meth-adone reduction programme, and had never been to prison before, Teesside Crown Court was told.

Thompson said that he knew the houses were empty during the day when he went in with his girlfriend.

Police received a report of a burglary taking place in Ayresome Street, Middlesbrough, and they caught Thompson in the area with a carrier bag containing a computer.

Richard Walker, in mitigation, said that Thompson's criminal record meant that he faced a mandatory three year jail sentence for repeat burglaries, but that he deserved a reduction for his guilty pleas and the help he had given police.

Thompson, of Erroll Street, Middlesbrough, was jailed for 29 months after pleading guilty to three burglaries, with another five taken into consideration, between April last year and June this year