A HEROIN addict who sold undercover police hauls of stolen garden equipment, tools and car stereos has been locked up for 21 months.

Burnley Crown Court heard how Scott Simpson, 32, a drugs supplier with more than 60 previous convictions, told officers he only had two hours a day to commit crime as he was on a curfew.

But he promised the undercover police ‘better stuff than car stereos’ when his tag was removed.

He raided two sheds, broke into four cars and flogged an array of goods, including a £400 church lawnmower for £70.

Simpson was one of about 30 people arrested in the covert operation in Burnley, between September and December.

The defendant, who was involved with stolen equipment worth several thousands of pounds, made no comment when he was arrested in March, but owned up when he was shown covert film footage.

Simpson, then of Clarence Street, Burnley, admitted two shed burglaries, three thefts from a vehicle and four counts of arranging to handle stolen goods and had been committed for sentence by Burnley magistrates.

He asked for three offences to be considered.

Sarah Statham, prosecuting, said the defendant broke into sheds on Woodgrove Road, Burnley.

He had got the undercover officers’ phone number, contacted them in October and they went to his mother’s back yard, where he had stolen property stashed under a tarpaulin.

The defendant sent the officers a text in November, telling them he had three stereos stashed in a back alley as he had been chased by a police officer the night before. The officers handed over £50.

The defendant sold a lawnmower taken in a burglary at St Stephen’s Church, Burnley, together with two pushbikes. There was no evidence to suggest he was the burglar.

He told the officers the previous night he had been on a building site looking for copper piping, but had been chased by a security guard.

The prosecutor said Simpson, who had 64 previous convictions, had been to jail for supplying hard drugs, burglary and theft.

Richard Taylor, for Simpson, said drugs had blighted his life for many years after he was introduced to heroin at the age of 14, according to Simpson, who also said he was not a violent person.

Taylor added that he needed funds for his heroin habit and he had been drinking to excess as well.