A drug addict who burgled his mother's home was told by a judge yesterday that if she never spoke to him again he deserved it.

Jonathon Halpin, 26, had been banned from his mother Joyce's home in Thornaby, Teesside, for stealing from her, said Michael O'Neill, prosecuting.

When he called in February, she refused to let him in.

Then she heard a loud crash, and ran to a neighbour's for help. Later, she discovered that her kitchen window had been forced and £10 stolen from her purse.

When arrested, Halpin said he needed £10 a day to buy heroin, Teesside Crown Court heard.

Stephen Constantine, defending, said that Halpin wanted to mend the fences between him and his family.

Halpin of Westdale Road, Thornaby, was jailed for 18 months after he pleaded guilty to the burglary, three shoplifting thefts, assaulting a police officer and failing to surrender to bail three times.

Judge Leslie Spittle said that the burglary was a mean and nasty offence.