A BURGLAR who fled from justice has been jailed for raiding a sick man's home.

Andrew Hunter skipped bail on the day he and his co-accused Ryan Michael Mulvaney were due to be sentenced for burglary.

He was arrested on warrant and appeared before York Crown Court.

Repeating what Hunter had told her, his barrister Lauren Hebditch said his wife had died in 2016, “just after celebrating their 25th wedding anniversary”.

Hunter is 39 years old.

Ms Hebditch said Hunter had been prescribed medicine for post traumatic stress disorder, depression and epilepsy.

She said drugs “took away the pain” of the wife’s death and led Hunter to associate with others whose influence adversely affected his behaviour.

“He is remorseful,” said the barrister. “At the time, he was at the lowest he has ever been.”

York Crown Court heard Hunter has 105 previous convictions, including for burglary in 1997.

He was on a community order for other offences at the time.

Hunter, of Stockdale Road, Knaresborough, was jailed for 17 months.

He admitted failure to attend court and burglary, the court was told.

Ms Hebditch said Hunter had not attended court in October because he was “petrified” of being jailed and was worried about the possible consequences for his clinically vulnerable mother if he was locked up as he cared for her.

Co-accused Mulvaney, 40, of no fixed address, was jailed for 40 months in October at York Crown Court.

On that occasion, Matthew Collins, prosecuting, said the victim of the burglary had been ill.

He had opened a window for some fresh air and gone to bed in his Harrogate flat.

But Mulvaney and Hunter got in through the open window and stole £1,000.

Hearing a noise, the victim had got out of bed and gone into the living room where he saw them climbing back out of the window.

Mulvaney was subject to a minimum three-year sentence because of the number of house burglaries on his record.