A THIRD strike house burglar who has vowed to mend his ways was urged by a judge to apologise to the man whose home he ransacked.

Daniel Frayne threw a rock through the window of the address in Queen Street, Buttershaw, Bradford, before filling two carrier bags with stolen property.

Frayne, who dropped his loot and fled when the police arrived at the scene, appeared at Bradford Crown Court yesterday from remand in prison.

While in the cells, he penned an apology described by Judge Jonathan Rose as “the most powerful letter that I have read from a prisoner in the situation that you are.”

Frayne, 34, of Thornton Crescent, Cleethorpes, Lincolnshire, had “an absolutely appalling record,” the court was told.

He had racked up convictions for handling stolen goods, fraud, battery and a string of residential and commercial burglaries.

He pleaded guilty to burgling the house in Buttershaw and stealing car keys, a laptop computer, coins, aftershave and DVDs.

Prosecutor Philip Adams said Frayne attacked the property shortly after midday on May 10 while the occupier was at work.

He hurled a large stone through the kitchen window, alerting a neighbour who heard the smash and called the police.

Once inside the house, Frayne carried out an untidy search, stuffing his spoils into the two carrier bags and ransacking clothes and documents in the bedroom.

When the police arrived, they spotted Frayne ducking down behind some garages.

He abandoned the bags and fled on to a nearby housing estate.

An eye-witness who saw the police chasing Frayne recognised him and he was apprehended the next day.

Mr Adams said he believed that all the raided property was recovered but the householder was left horrified and feeling uncomfortable in his home of more than ten years.

Mr Adams said that Frayne’s long criminal record included two previous convictions for house burglary, making him liable for a three-year minimum jail sentence, minus credit for his guilty plea.

Frayne’s solicitor advocate, Ashok Khullar, handed the letter to the judge, saying that his client was anxious to rehabilitate himself.

“When the drugs are out of his system, he does know right from wrong and he is capable of empathising with his victims,” Mr Khullar said.

Judge Rose said that Frayne was determined that this would be his last prison sentence.

He urged him to write to the man whose home he broke into to say sorry.

Jailing Frayne for 27 months, Judge Rose asked him to keep in touch with the Crown Prosecution Service on his release to let them know how he was getting on.