A CAREER burglar has been sent back to jail after he confronted an elderly man in his house at night.

Matthew John Dodson, 42, was on parole at the time from the latest of a long series of prison sentences for breaking into other people's homes in and around York, Leeds Crown Court heard.

Giles Grant, prosecuting, said the day before the confrontation, Dodson had ransacked the Tadcaster Road home of a family while they were abroad on holiday and had stolen the mother's £6,500 tailor-made engagement ring.

Dodson, of no fixed address, pleaded guilty to two house burglaries and was jailed for four years. He began his burglary career when he was 17. His 84 previous convictions for dishonesty included theft from an 86-year-old car passenger by pulling open a car door and grabbing her handbag with her pension money in, in Acomb.

Mr Grant said the elderly victim was watching television at 10.30pm on July 11, when he heard noises upstairs and realised that his kitchen door was open. He went upstairs. As he checked one bedroom, Dodson tried to creep past the bedroom door, but was spotted.

Recorder Michael Slater said of the victim: "That must have been a frightening experience for him."

Mr Grant said Dodson left when the victim said he had phoned police, but officers caught him trying to cycle away in a nearby street, with the man's cash and bank card and with burglary equipment.

Dodson left his sock at the Tadcaster Road house with his DNA on it. The engagement ring and other items stolen in that raid have never been found.

Both victims told the judge in victim impact statements how the burglaries made them upset and angry.

Giving his mitigation, his barrister Austin Newman said: "There isn't very much that can be said".

Dodson had mental health issues at the time and had not been taking his medication. He had been living in a hostel and had been bullied by other residents, who had been taking his medication from him and using it, the court was told.

Leeds Crown Court heard that psychiatrists have declared him fit to plead. In 2013, he was jailed for three and a half years for house burglary, the sentence for which he was on parole at the time of his latest crimes. He was jailed for two years in 2011 for stealing the 86-year-old woman's handbag and three years for house burglaries in May 2008. He had also served more than 12 years in prison by 2005 for house burglaries including four years imposed in 2000.