A FORMER soldier turned to crime after his discharge from the Army because of stress, a court was told.

David Dunn, 26, who was drinking heavily on his return to civilian life, took part in a noisy house break-in a few doors from a friend's home.

Durham Crown Court heard he ripped a drain pipe from a wall and smashed the kitchen window, at about 1am last November 23.

Nearby residents in Sunnybrow, near Willington, heard Dunn shouting and saw him removing items in a wheelbarrow. When confronted, Dunn simply told a neighbour: "I'm moving property to another house."

Peter Sabiston, prosecuting, said the haul taken included a television set, a fax machine, DVDs and a DVD player, other electronic equipment and a mirror.

All but the mirror, which smashed, were recovered.

When the owner returned to the house, in Fairfield Walk, he found "an untidy search" had been made.

Mr Sabiston said that around the same time as the break-in, Dunn also made two unsuccessful attempts to make unauthorised withdrawals from the bank account of an 89-year-old woman for whom his partner, at the time, was caring.

"By good fortune, the signature was clearly forged by his partner and the cheques were refused when he tried to pay them into his account."

But Mr Sabiston said Dunn did benefit with cigarettes and cash obtained by his partner, using the woman's bank and debit cards.

The court heard Dunn's girlfriend, who had no previous convictions, received a suspended prison sentence for her part in the crimes.

Dunn, of Fir Terrace, Esh Winning, near Durham, admitted burglary, plus obtaining and attempting to obtain by deception.

Jonathan Walker, mitigating, said: "He's had a difficult background, having been discharged after three-and-a-half years in the Army, suffering post-traumatic stress disorder. He was based in Germany and married out there, and while he kept out of trouble for a long time, he describes it as a time when he began drinking heavily."

Jailing him for 30 months, Judge Richard Lowden told Dunn: "You have a bad record which tailed off in the Army. But when you came out, you committed these serious offences."