A MAN denied being the burglar of a house, saying the bloodstains he was covered in were from a beating by three unknown men.

Peter Harrison, who has seven convictions for burglary, some of them on dwelling houses, denied responsibility for an untidy break-in at a rented property in Shotton Colliery, County Durham, on April 14.

Durham Crown Court heard the female tenant, who had been away overnight, returned to her home in early afternoon to discover a rear window smashed.

On entering, she found the house in a state of disarray, with items pulled from cupboards, rubbish and paint strewn round several rooms, and, it emerged, several of her possessions, including jewellery, watches, household goods, and food from the freezer, had all been stolen.

The woman also reported seeing a blood-stained man, wearing shorts, who was identified as the defendant, walking past the property, before returning in the direction of nearby AJ Cook Terrace, where he went into the garden of a house.

He then emerged and walked down the street to get into a taxi, carrying two bags.

A watch, later recovered from the taxi, was identified as one of those stolen from the house, and the driver reported having been offered it in payment, before dropping the defendant in Peterlee town centre, where he was planning to visit a pawnbroker’s shop.

The court heard an employee at the shop reported someone entering that afternoon, offering to sell items of jewellery taken from the house.

Although he was offered £20 for some items, the transaction was not completed as he had no identification.

Harrison’s fingerprints were found on items in the house and when he was arrested and interviewed, he declined to answer police questions.

Angus Taylor, prosecuting, said it was the Crown’s case that apart from stealing items there was an element of revenge over the untidy nature of the burglary, as Harrison a former tenant at another address owned by the landlord, had been in dispute with him.

Harrison, 38, of Cloverdale, Darlington, denied burglary, claiming he had gone to the house to retrieve property of his left there by the former landlord.

But, he said, when he went there he was attacked by three people waiting for him, hence his blood-stained appearance.

On the fourth day of his trial, however, the jury returned a unanimous guilty verdict.

Judge Jonathan Carroll told the jury that the defendant had been “pathologically dishonest” throughout the case.

He adjourned so Harrison, who represented himself during the trial, can be represented by a barrister, at sentence, on a date to be fixed. He was remanded in custody in the meantime.