A SERIAL burglar raided a woman’s flat - before she had even finished moving in.

Michael Lee Green stole a tablet computer, a mobile phone and medication while the victim popped briefly into a neighbour’s on the same floor of the block of flats, said Rob Galley, prosecuting.

Later the same day, police spotted him and others exchanging similar items outside a city centre hostel for the homeless, tracked him by CCTV and arrested him with one of the woman’s chargers in Duncombe Place.

Green, 47, of no fixed address, pleaded guilty to burglary at York Crown Court and was jailed for three years.

He has 79 previous convictions including several for house burglaries and has served a 10 year prison sentence for aggravated burglary.

Judge Andrew Stubbs QC said Green was “as high as a kite” when he carried out the raid on September 10.

His solicitor advocate Neal Kutte said he had been homeless since he had been released from prison this May and was “living” in the doorway of an adjacent block of flats.

The judge pointed out accommodation had been arranged for Green before he was released from prison but he had never gone there and his placement had been withdrawn.

Mr Kutte said Green had been on methadone while inside, but once released had made the “foolish” decision not to take the medicine and as a result had started taking heroin again. That had led to a downward spiral.

Mr Galley said the victim hadn’t unpacked all her belongings when she went to the neighbour’s flat leaving her flat door to the communal area inside the block of flats open.

It wasn’t until later that she remembered seeing two people hanging around the communal area who appeared to be under the influence of drink or drugs.

Shoes worn by Green matched footmarks left in the victim’s room.

Police later found the telephone and tablet computer in a bedroom in the hostel.