A REPEAT burglary victim whose entire downstairs is boarded up is on the verge of selling her home to escape the nightmare.

The householder told of her torment as the latest raider to try to break in was locked up at Teesside Crown Court.

John Jobling was jailed for 21 months for a drug-addled attempt to pull off the boards, reach in through a cat flap and kick down a door.

The 53-year-old home-owner called the police as Jobling was trying to get in.

Jobling, who was arrested in the back garden, claimed he had climbed over the wall and was hiding because he was being chased, and said: “You’re arresting me for nothing.”

Jobling, 38, did not turn up for his trial before magistrates, but was found guilty of attempted burglary in his absence.

His 53-year-old victim said in a statement that she can no long get insurance for the terraced house in Hartlepool, which was left to her by her mother.

“This has happened to me twice before and it is losing me money,” she said. “It has made me think about of selling the house.”

Prosecutor Rachel Masters said Jobling’s charge sheet is “littered with offences” of burglary as well as robberies in 2005 and 2011.

Judge Sean Morris described him as “a professional” and said: “It was a nasty offence against a property where a victim has been a repeated recipient of other burglaries.”

“The occupier was at home, you were ripping off boarding to get your hand in. You should have been charged with burglary because you did get your hand in.

“It is so close to a burglary that it makes virtually no difference.”

Paul Abrahams, mitigating, said Jobling, of Hucklehoven Way, Hartlepool, had been sleeping rough and taking Valium, and could not remember the incident.

He might have seen a boarded-up house and thought he could stay the night if he got in, the barrister added.

“He was found a house in February and March, and he was targeted because of his mental health and his property was burgled three times,” said Mr Abrahams.

“He ended up back on the streets and taking drugs. He was wandering around not knowing what he was doing.”