A FORMER Corus worker who used his inside knowledge to steal workers' cars was jailed for two years and seven months yesterday.

Reformed jailbird Robert Laver was given a job at the plant, thanks to his father who worked there.

But Laver, 27, was laid off after four months because of bad timekeeping and used his cash pay-off to lapse back into drugs, Teesside Crown Court was told.

Laver was back in Holme House Prison when he was interviewed by detectives about a Guisborough burglary where his fingerprint was found on a kitchen door, said Gillian Milton, prosecuting.

A neighbour had chased a burglar from the house, in Westgate, Guisborough, and the intruder dropped a rucksack which contained a stolen Playstation and a charger.

Two flatscreen televisions had been ripped from the walls of the lounge and a bedroom, and Laver admitted that he also stole an iPod, which he sold for £30 to buy drugs.

Laver said that he had been out with two other men when they saw the flatscreen TV through a window. They broke in while the owner was away at work.

The same day, Laver drove a Nissan Micra onto the Corus site, where it had been stolen five days before, after the keys were taken from a locker.

Laver gave his name to a security officer who became suspicious, and the car was recovered parked near the machine shops. A check was made on lockers and it showed that a £65 shirt had been stolen, said Miss Milton.

Laver later admitted handling the stolen Micra, stealing car keys and a Ford Mondeo and also a Citroen car from the Corus site. Jonnie Walker, mitigating, said that all the offences were committed over a few days.

He said: "A number of the offences are targeting his former employer.

"This is an industrious, rather bright young man who was able to gain profitable employment through his father at Corus between December 7 and the end of March when, unhappily, due to bad timekeeping, he was laid off.

"He had a certain amount of cash at his disposal and was in a bored state, and he fell into using heroin and everything went downhill. A number of the offences are on consecutive days."

Judge George Moorhouse said he was pleased that Laver was now drug-free, which could lead to him quitting crime when he was released.

Laver, of Tennyson Avenue, Grangetown, was jailed for two years and seven months, reduced by the 91 days he had spent in custody on remand after he pleaded guilty to the April 9 Guisborough burglary and handling the stolen Micra.

He asked for two Corus burglaries and a theft to be taken into consideration.