A YOUNG burglar is starting a prison sentence a year after breaking into a family home and taking hundreds of pounds worth of electrical equipment.

Philip McDonald, 23, was arrested after leaving tell-tale fingerprints on a patio door he forced to gain access to the house in North Road, Chester-le-Street, County Durham, last April.

Durham Crown Court heard he struck during the day-time, while the householders were away from home.

Prior to sentence McDonald was undergoing assessment for his suitability for a drug treatment and testing order, aimed at addressing his heroin habit.

But, in the meantime, he was arrested at the wheel of a previously-stolen Jaguar X-type car in Newcastle city centre, after police saw it being driven haphazardly across Redheugh Bridge.

He was in possession of stolen goods and a set of keys to a Volvo car, all taken in a break-in at a house in Gateshead three weeks earlier.

McDonald, of Ruby Gardens, Wrekenton, Gateshead, admitted burglary, taking a vehicle without consent, failing to provide a specimen for analysis, driving while disqualified and handling stolen goods.

He was jailed for two years and banned from driving for a similar period.