A homeless drug addict who burgled the friend who had just put him up for the night has been jailed for 15 months.
Edward James, 37, committed the “mean” offence in breach of a conditional discharge from Bradford and Keighley Magistrates for theft of a charity box.
James, who was yesterday brought to Bradford Crown Court in custody, had 110 criminal convictions, including one for housebreaking and many for shoplifting, prosecutor Martin Robertshaw said.
He admitted burgling a house in North Dean Road, Keighley, on December 16.
The court heard that the householder, Mark Lonsdale, allowed James to stay at the property overnight.
Next day, he forced a window and stole an Xbox and computer games worth £100.
Mr Robertshaw said James sold the stolen items almost straight away for £30 but the police got them back.
James’ barrister, Sarah Barlow, said he had a long-standing drug addiction and felt that a custodial sentence would help him to address his habit.
Judge Jonathan Rose labelled it “a mean burglary”.
He jailed James for 12 months, plus three months on top of that for breaching the court order for theft of the charity box.
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