A BURGLAR has been promised by a judge that he will not go to prison if he stays out of trouble for the next six months.
Sidney Palmer, 24, admitted stealing £2,300 worth of property from a house he burgled in Rotherfield Road, Sunderland on July 12 last year.
But his barrister, Ian Graham, told Newcastle Crown Court how the father-of-one could not remember carrying out the raid, because he had a drink problem.
Judge Esmond Faulks agreed to defer sentence for six months but warned: "In your case, with your previous convictions for burglary I would say two years would be appropriate,
"But if you cooperate I promise at the end of six months you will not get custody."
Palmer, of Kidderminster Road, Sunderland, was also ordered to make an appointment with the North East Council for Alcohol Addiction.
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