A HOUSE breaker caught while trying to escape with his stolen haul has been committed to crown court for sentence.

Burnley magistrates heard how ex-convict John Fruscella, 33, was captured because police were passing as he and an accomplice struck.

Officers saw him run from an isolated cottage carrying a plastic bag before he got into a nearby car. He was arrested and said the front door of the premises had been trashed.

Fruscella, of Falinge Flats, Rochdale, admitted burglary at the property at Dearden Clough, Edenfield, on January 13. He was committed in custody for sentence.

Christiana Buchanan, prosecuting, told the court the defendant got into the driver's seat of the vehicle. An officer got in behind him and saw electrical items on the back seat.

Fruscella accepted all the property came from the house.

Mrs Buchanan said he had an extensive record, was a persistent offender and had served three-and-a-half years in prison for burglary.

Rachel Adamson, defending, said Fruscella was not as prolific as it would at first appear, adding that debt problems caused him to commit the offence.