A BURGLAR who stole a bike from a garage while a householder was just feet away was today (Tuesday) jailed for 15 months.

Ryan Stewart, 28, was told by a judge he had "brass nerve" and "a truly awful record" for offences of dishonesty.

Judge Michael Taylor told the Middlesbrough criminal: "You just can't keep your hands off other people's property."

Stewart was caught on CCTV going into the detached garage one tea-time in October and stealing the £1,000 bicycle.

A man who was in the building at the time, chased the crook, but Stewart just looked back at him and laughed.

His lawyer Dixon, told Teesside Crown Court that he had been released from a five-year jail term for robbery in March.

She said a relationship had kept Stewart out of trouble, but a split a fortnight before the burglary turned him back to drugs.

"This culminated in him committing this offence to feed his habit," Miss Dixon told Judge Taylor.

"He noticed the garage door was open and he had his hand on the bike before he realised there was somebody inside."

Stewart, of Aberston Walk, Middlesbrough, admitted the October 20 at an earlier hearing at Teesside Magistrates' Court.

Judge Taylor told him: "Remarkably, the occupant was in the garage when you had the brass nerve to steal this bike.

"When he chases you down the street, you think it's a huge joke and go off with it. It has never been recovered."