A HOMELESS drug addict who bedded down in a temporarily unoccupied house and sold the homeowner’s furniture has been jailed.

The owner of the house, on Salisbury Terrace in the Denes area of Darlington, was locked up at the time and his sister was occasionally checking on the property when Adrian Raper made himself at home there.

Teesside Crown Court heard today (Friday, October 17) that 27-year-old Raper, who had an amphetamine addiction, was invited there by a female friend and then lived in the house for about two weeks in late August and early September.

A number of items went missing from the house including a television, a sat nav system and DVDs, but Raper denied any involvement in those thefts.

He did however admit to selling the homeowner’s furniture for £70 to a man who collected it with a van.

Prosecuting, Emma Atkinson said: “He knew that the (home)owner was not present and he took it upon himself to live there.

“They took items from there and went on to sell them.”

Raper pleaded guilty to burglary and the court heard that he was already serving an eight-week prison sentence for breaching a supervision order imposed in June for theft and possession of a knife.

Mitigating, Stephen Andrews said Raper had come off drugs whilst in custody and was now feeling positive about his future.

He said that Raper’s life descended into drug use and homelessness when he lost his job and had trouble claiming benefits.

Mr Andrews added that Raper had shown in the past that he could hold down a job and a home at his father’s awaited once he was released from custody.

Judge Simon Bourne-Arton QC, the Recorder of Middlesbrough, remarked on Raper’s lengthy offending history and sentenced him to 12-months in prison.