A DRUG addict burglar who invaded an elderly dementia sufferer's room at a Bradford care home has been imprisoned for 16 months.

Mark Cooper pretended to be on the phone, saying: "I've just checked and he's okay," when staff became suspicious, Bradford Crown Court heard.

Cooper, 39, of Canterbury Avenue, Canterbury, Bradford, had lapsed back into drug taking after turning his life around and becoming a volunteer at a shelter for the homeless, his solicitor advocate, Philip Ainge, said.

Cooper, who has 38 convictions for 67 offences, pleaded guilty to burgling Southfield Care Home in Belton Close, Great Horton, with intent to steal on April 17.

Prosecutor Syam Soni said he was seen coming out of the elderly man's room and heading for the exit.

Asked who he was visiting, he gave the name of a patient that did not exist.

He was caught on CCTV and arrested two days later when he gave a 'no comment' police interview.

Mr Soni said it could not be established that anything was stolen from the home.

Cooper's criminal record stretched back 20 years and he had convictions for four house burglaries and 28 non dwelling burglaries, including targeting schools and other community premises.

Three days after the burglary offence at the home, Cooper was committed for sentence by Bradford and Keighley magistrates for offences of dishonesty. He was jailed for nine months on May 17 and for a further month, for fraud, on June 27.

Mr Ainge said he was now drug free after serving time in jail.

He had completed his prison sentences and was now remanded in custody for the care home burglary.

Cooper had been a heroin addict since he was 15 but had been drug free for 18 months in recent years, gaining an NVQ at college and being a representative on an abstinence project.

Mr Ainge said Cooper did not target the home knowing its residents were elderly dementia sufferers.

"He had no intention of stealing from vulnerable elderly people with that condition," Mr Ainge told the court.

Cooper had done his best to rehabilitate himself while in custody and intended to carry on with the good work on his release.

The Recorder of Bradford, Judge Roger Thomas QC, labelled it "a mean and nasty offence."

He told Cooper: "You must have known it was a care home. It is for elderly people suffering from dementia and you were looking for something to steal, probably to feed your drug misuse."

Judge Thomas urged Cooper to build on the good progress he had made in prison on his release.