A shameless burglar stole Christmas presents from a house - just hours after being sentenced by magistrates for another theft.

Christopher Haggarty, 35, has been locked up for three years after admitting stealing items from a house in Catcote Road, Hartlepool.

The shocked householder came back to find their home ransacked with a stash of Christmas presents in a duvet cover and an iPod and laptop were missing.

Judge Les Spittle, sentencing at Teesside Crown Court, who described the burglary as "pretty determined" and "bare-faced", ordered the sentence to start after Haggarty serves 27 months in prison starting on September 29, for offences he committed in Scotland.

Haggarty, who was nabbed after leaving his mobile phone at the scene, also admitted possessing heroin worth £340, but pleaded guilty on the basis that he was looking after the drugs for someone else.

The court heard Haggarty, who has a record of committing burglaries in Scotland, had appeared at Hartlepool Magistrates' Court on December 18 last year.

Prosecuting, Matthew Bean said: "On that day, the defendant appeared at Hartlepool Magistrates' Court to be sentenced in respect of theft.

He was fined and having left the magistrates' court went to a house in Catcote Road.

The house at the time was empty, but in the afternoon he gained entry by smashing a window and began forcing the lock open."

Mr Bean said Haggarty removed a laptop and iPod and when the householder later returned she found a number of wrapped Christmas presents in a duvet cover in the back garden of the house.

"There had clearly been a search of the property and a chest of drawers had been opened in the bedrooms," added Mr Bean.

The prosecutor added that on March 22, police raided Haggarty's former home, in Kimberley Street, Hartlepool, and found two plastic bags containing around seven grammes of heroin in a cupboard under the stairs.

He added that the street value of the drugs was £340 and also in the cupboard was £310 in cash. Haggarty, now of Arran Lane, Chryston, Glasgow, was arrested.

Stephen Duffield, mitigating, said Haggarty only acquired a criminal record in 2000 after his partner died and he had never been convicted of drugs offences before.

He said Haggarty admitted possession of the drugs but only on the basis he was keeping them for someone else.

Jailing Haggarty, Judge Spittle said: "The burglary was a pretty determined one, it wasn't just dropping in to see if you could find any money for your way home. It was particularly bare-faced after you had just left Hartlepool Magistrates' court."