A BURGLAR was sentenced to more than two years in prison after targeting a Blackburn company three times in two-months.

Alan Huddleston escaped with £1,500 worth of tools the first time he broke into North West Tippers and although he did not manage to take anything on the second occasion, he returned a third time and made off with another haul of tools.

Huddleston, 31, of no fixed address, was sentenced to a total of two years and seven months in prison by a judge at Preston Crown Court.

He admitted three charges of burglary, plus other offences of unlawfully escaping custody and breach of a probation order. He has previous convictions for burgling commercial premises.

Miss Judith McCullough, prosecuting, said North West Tippers had a factory in Rockfield Street, Blackburn.

The burglaries took place in July and August last year and on each occasion Huddleston got in through the roof.

The first burglary involved him taking £1,500 worth of tools. On the second date he searched a tool box, though nothing was taken as the stolen items had not been replaced.

The final burglary saw the defendant force padlocks and steal more tools. Huddleston was arrested a week later.

He went on to tell police he needed to show them premises he had broken into. He was taken to a derelict yard and seized his opportunity to escape but was only at large for about half an hour.

The two-year probation order he had breached had earlier been passed for offences of burglary.

Ian Dacre, defending, said Huddleston's offending stemmed from a drug habit he had had since his teens. One could almost say that he specialised in burglaries of commercial premises.

Mr Dacre added: "It is almost with a sense of pride he has not committed house burglaries in the past.

"He says commercial burglaries don't affect people in the same way as they would in house burglaries. He steals things that are easily accessible and easily resaleable."

The latest offences occured after Huddleston fell back in with the wrong crowd and returned to using drugs.