A HEROIN addict who helped himself to his sister's property while she was on a night out, is behind bars for three years.

Burnley Crown Court heard how Daniel Price, 23, turned up at her Burnley home as a babysitter looked after her children and walked out with electrical equipment worth £160.

Sentencing the defendant, who also raided a flat in the early hours days later and offended on bail, Recorder Harry Narayan said if he carried on with such behaviour he would qualify for longer sentences. Price, of Howard Street, Burnley, had admitted two counts of burglary and one of theft and had been committed for sentence by the Burnley, Pendle and Rossendale magistrates.

Keith Harrison, prosecuting, said Price twisted a bottle of Southern Comfort from a shopkeeper's hand and stole it. Four days after the theft of his sister's TV, radio and scanner, a police officer on duty in the early hours heard the sound of breaking glass. He saw the defendant walk from a property and then found the living room window smashed at a ground floor flat. Price was later arrested and admitted both burglaries.

Anthony Cross, defending, said Price had pleaded guilty at the first opportunity. He had been addicted to heroin and had been in desperate need of money. Price had since been reconciled with his sister.

The defendant left school with good qualifications and managed to get work almost immediately. He committed an offence for which he was sent to a young offenders institution, lost his job and became addicted to heroin and amphetamine.

Mr Cross said Price began to burgle in 1998, and was put on an intensive probation scheme, but began to take drugs again and committed these offences when he had no money, nor house. He added when the defendant was drug free, he was a polite and pleasant personality. Price accepted he must go to custody.