A SCHOOL burglar's plea for mercy was rejected by a judge yesterday who said his sympathies were with the school's children.

Lee Stephenson, 26, was jailed for two years for burgling four schools and two specials needs centres in Middlesbrough to feed his heroin addiction.

He targeted Whinney Banks, Caldecott, Thorntree and Newport schools, and the Erimus and Stainsby centres.

Teesside Crown Court was told Stephenson, of Grove Street, Stockton, had asked for help to fight his drug addiction.

But Judge Peter Fox said he could get it in prison "by showing his resolve and surviving on a drugs-free wing".

The judge said: "I have to consider the children, their parents, and also those people in these places who put in their own time, own energy, own effort for little if any reward - and then you plunder the few resources they have."

Stephenson pleaded guilty to three burglaries with another eight taken into consideration.