A BURGLAR targeted a neighbour’s flat knowing he was working away from home at the time.

Durham Crown Court heard that the occupant was so unnerved at the break-in that he removed valuables and has now left the flat as he still works out of the area.

The court heard the ground-floor premises, in Snowdon Place, Peterlee, was entered sometime between the March 9 and 14.

Intruders took cosmetics, jewellery, clothing, a DVD, kitchen storage pots, a bank card and a birth certificate.

Nicholas Rooke, prosecuting, said police attended, but there was no-one present and it was only when the occupant returned at the end of the week that he realised his home had been burgled, as there was immediate evidence of ransacking.

Mr Rooke said it was during investigation of an attempted burglary elsewhere in the area that some of the stolen items taken from the Snowdon Place break-in, including jewellery and the birth certificate, were recovered from the flat of John Thomas Evans, in the same block.

When asked where the items originated, he made no comment, but after the return of the occupant of the burgled flat, the property was identified and returned.

Mr Rooke said a fingerprint match with Evans was also recovered from a bin bag in the burgled flat.

The victim of the break-in told police his neighbour had previously been a guest at the flat and would have had easy internal access to his door, being a resident in the same block.

Evans, 27, admitted the break-in and asked for the attempted burglary of a house in The Village, Old Shotton, near Peterlee, to be taken into consideration.

The court heard he has 37 convictions for 50 offences, including 31 for theft and similar crimes.

His latest conviction put him in breach of a suspended six month prison sentence imposed at the court in June, last year, also for burglary, as well as a conditional discharge for drug possession, in December.

Jane Waugh, mitigating, said Evans spent 51 days in custody prior to sentence, pleaded guilty at the first opportunity and said her client “knows the only outcome will be a custodial sentence.”

Jailing him for a year, including the full six months of the previous suspended sentence, Judge Christopher Prince told him: “There may have been no great sophistication here, but you have been there before and knew he worked away.”

A further seven days was added to the sentence for Evans’ failure to attend a previous hearing prior to his remand in custody.