Lee Kenneth Moore burgled the Principal Hotel - again

In September 2019, Lee Kenneth Moore, then 37, was locked up for three years and six months after he admitted going into a guest's room at the Principal Hotel and stealing their suitcase while they were sleeping.

He was released last year halfway through that sentence.

This autumn, while on parole, he was caught on CCTV in the same hotel raiding a staff room.

He also raided a city centre restaurant, was caught in High Petergate carrying a scalpel and stole a woman's car keys and other items

Moore, now 40, of no fixed address, pleaded guilty to two burglaries and one charge each of carrying a blade and theft and was sent back to jail for 12 weeks.

"You have a horrific record for similar offences and this was carried out on (prison) licence," York magistrates told him about the hotel raid.

His previous convictions included raiding Hotel 53 in Piccadilly, York.

Melanie Ibbotson, prosecuting, said police were called to the Principal Hotel next to York Railway Station just after 10pm on Sunday September 18 this year.

He told police he had entered the hotel to keep warm and stayed in reception, but claimed to staff he was a cleaner.

For him, Andrew Craven said going into prison cost him his accommodation and his benefit claim.

The hearing for the staff room burglar was not the first time Moore had been sentenced for an offence since he had been released from prison in early 2021 partway through the 2019 sentence.

"This is a gentleman that has ricocheted from being outside (prison) to being in custody," said the defence solicitor.

He had been jailed in May 2021 for a similar offence to the most recent burglary. On that occasion he had been locked up 12 weeks.

At the time of the staff room burglary, he was living on the streets and probably had a drug problem.

He had gone into the hotel foyer, noticed people walking in a back room and once they had gone, walked into the room.

Principal Hotel, York. From Google Streetview

In 2019, York Crown Court heard details of his raid on the Principal Hotel on July 22, 2018.

While in the hotel, he had leapt over the barrier at the entrance to the hotel's health suite and got away with a bag belonging to a member of staff.

He had also gone into the room of a Chinese visitor while she was sleeping. He had taken her suitcase and was spotted in CCTV wheeling it out of the hotel between 11.15pm and 11.30pm.

He was trying to disguise it by covering it with a duvet.

Inside the suitcase was the visitor's medication.

Read more about the 2019 case here