A PREVIOUSLY twice convicted burglar took advantage when he passed the home of an elderly woman and noticed the keys dangling from the front door

John Alan Bolt went into the house, in Shelley Street, Seaham, and confronted the 83-year-old householder, ushering her into the living room, telling her he was trying to retrieve his Rottweiler dog as it had walked into the premises.

Durham Crown Court heard that he left the house with £600 and a bank card, taken from a bag in the kitchen.

Phillip Morley, prosecuting, said when he was subsequently arrested Bolt made denials, which were maintained at a previous court hearing.

But, on the day of his scheduled trial, his counsel, Jane Waugh, told the court Bolt was, now, “minded” to plead ‘guilty’, although it was on a basis which was rejected by the Crown.

Miss Waugh told the court: “He says he saw the keys and, trying to return them to the old lady, he went in, but took the chance to take the money, as there was no-one there.”

Mr Morley said the Crown’s view was that although it was not initially “deliberate targeting” of a vulnerable elderly victim, Bolt went in, intending to see what he could take.

Following a discussion with her client, Miss Waugh asked for the charge to be put to him again.

Thirty-four-year-old Bolt, of Dawdon Cresent, Seaham, pleaded ‘guilty’, accepting the Crown’s version of events.

The court was told the conviction makes him a “third strike” burglar, and subject to minimum sentence provisions of a three-year jail term.

She added that at the time of the offence, in October, the defendant was, “at a low ebb”, following the break-up of a six-year relationship.

Recorder Simon Jackson imposed a three-year starting point for sentence, but reduced it by six months as discount for the eventual ‘guilty’ plea.