A HOUSE-BREAKER had left his victim so traumatised by the raid on her home she no longer wanted to live there.

Burnley magistrates heard how Christopher Scott Lewis, 18, kicked in the door of the property and helped himself to items worth almost £300.

The complainant had since moved to escape the memories of the raid.

Lewis, of Godley Street, Burnley, admitted burglary and was committed for sentence to the town's crown court after the bench said their powers of punishment were not sufficient.

Tom Snape, prosecuting, said just before the offence, the victim had moved into the house on Lyndsay Street, Burnley.

After spending the night elsewhere, she freturned to find electrical items including a hi-fi system and video recorder had been taken, worth £270.

The upstairs had also been searched and the drawers and wardrobes rifled through. Mr Snape said the woman was shocked, distressed and traumatised and afterwards no longer wanted to live at that address.

Lewis at first denied any part in the break-in, but after police found two footprints on the door.