A BURGLAR is back behind bars after his break-in woke up a household.

Paul William Laird, 41, broke into a house during a spate of raids that included stealing tools and other equipment from garden sheds, said prosecutor David Garnett at York Crown Court.

But the noise he made alerted the householder upstairs, who took his number plate as he drove off.

The same night, police caught him in the car, together with some of his loot.

Laird, of Cornlands Road, Acomb, York, pleaded guilty to one house burglary, four shed burglaries and one charge of handling goods that had been stolen in a house burglary. He was jailed for 27 months.

He has a long record of burglaries stretching back to 1994 and has served several prison sentences.

“You are a habitual and regular thief,” Judge Michael Mettyear told him.

“Here you are in a relatively short period going back to your old ways not so long after you have been released from custody. It is a pretty miserable picture.”

He revealed he himself had been speaking to a victim of a burglary recently and said sometimes people “never get over the shock and worry of someone being in their property.”

For Laird, Simon Perkins said his client was heavily addicted to Class A drugs.

But he was not a house burglar. He preferred to raid sheds and garages.

When the householder interrupted him in his latest burglary, he realised he was making a “serious mistake” and left. Since being remanded in custody after his arrest, he had registered for prison courses on tackling his drug addiction and acquiring skills to help him go straight.