A BURGLAR was prepared to wake up and take responsibility for his life because he was about to become a father, a court heard.

Gerald Whalen, 23, who carried out a £1,200 house raid, had previous convictions for burglary, but had now had enough of being dependent on drugs, getting into more trouble and facing longer and longer prison sentences, his barrister told the court.

Whalen, of Rowan Avenue, Oswaldtwistle, was jailed for nine months, to be served on top of the unexpired portion of his previous sentence.

Burnley crown Court Judge David Pirie said no course other than custody could be justified, as burglary victims felt their homes had been invaded.

He added although Whalen had five previous convictions for burglaries, and had been on probation at the time of the offence, he was seeking to stop his drug addiction and make a new start. Whalen had admitted burglary and been committed for sentence by Hyndburn magistrates.

The court heard the victim's next door neighbour in Spring Street, Oswaldtwistle, alerted police. Whalen got into the house at the back and took a hi-fi, colour television and video recorder.

Kathryn Johnson, defending, said the defendant made sure the house was not occupied by knocking on the door.

Whalen had a long-standing drug addiction, which was the root of all his recent offending. His drug habit went back to when the defendant was 14 or 15 and he now wanted to go to a rehabilitation unit.

Miss Johnson said the defendant realised drug dependency was going to get him into more and more trouble and put him at risk of longer and longer sentences.

His drug problems had caused him difficulties with his family over recent years, but he now had their support and they had visited him in prison.

She added Whalen was about to become a father. Miss Johnson went on: "That may be the fact that makes this defendant wake up to himself and feel he has to take some responsibility for his life."

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