A BURGLAR who broke into the same house twice in two days was jailed for three years yesterday.

David Preston left the Darlington home like a "bombsite" after breaking in twice and left the family who lived there afraid to leave their house, Teesside Crown Court heard.

David Scutt, prosecuting, said Preston, 28, broke into the house in Harry Street for the first time on October 21 last year, ransacked it while the family slept and stole a substantial amount of property.

But he was not finished, he said, and Preston, formerly of Cumberland Street, Darlington, returned to the property the next day and ransacked it again while he searched for anything else he could steal.

Just over a week later Preston struck again, he said, on October 30.

Mr Scutt said Preston broke into a house in the town's Newfoundland Road and stole £1,170-worth of property, including jewellery and electrical equipment.

The victim of this crime also told police they were afraid to leave the house and were deeply distressed by the burglary.

Preston denied the burglaries even when confronted by forensic evidence from footprints which showed that prints from footwear he owned exactly matched those found at the scenes.

He told police: "The pair of boots may have been involved, but I was not wearing them."

However, when the case went to court Preston pleaded guilty to three burglaries.

Preston had 71 previous offences on his record, including break-ins to commercial premises, and was currently serving a two-year prison sentence, the court was told.

David Lamb, defending, said Preston had been a victim of burglaries and knew how distressing the crime was for victims. The crimes were committed to feed Preston's heroin habit and he added that Preston was an intelligent man with six GCSEs.

Judge Les Spittle said they were serious crimes, especially because Preston had returned to the house. "You left it like a bombsite. You were determined to get everything you could," Judge Spittle said.

It had left one family "shocked and traumatised" and the other "virtually housebound", he added.

He jailed Preston for three years to run consecutively to his two-year sentence.