A CAREER house raider is back behind bars after raiding a garage in the early hours, as the victim slept in the home attached to it.

Drug addict Barry Duxbury, 38, made so much noise breaking in at River Drive, in Padiham, at 7am, neighbours were alerted.

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He was seen coming out of the property with a haul including a battery charger, soldering iron, planer and oil-filled radiator.

Police stopped him nearby and the loot was recovered, Burnley magistrates were told.

Duxbury has 10 previous convictions for burglary and was on licence from a 29-month jail term imposed in 2012.

The defendant, currently of no fixed address, but formerly of Graham Street, Padiham, was about to be recalled on licence. The bench imposed 16 weeks for the burglary on October 22, which he admitted.

Duxbury was allowed to stand in the dock with his hands in his pockets. Bench chairman Stephen Riley told the defendant to take his hands out, but was told his belt had been removed and if he did, his trousers would fall down.

Prosecutor Andrew Robinson said the garage was attached to the house, but there was no direct entry from it into the property.

The victim was asleep, but a neighbour had been woken up by banging and saw the defendant coming out of the garage.

Police stopped Duxbury in the street and recovered the goods. The garage and a car had been damaged.

Richard Taylor, defending, said Duxbury was about to be recalled, adding: “This was an amateurish offence, in so far as it’s watched by a number of people. The police were on the scene almost immediately.”