A YORK burglar who broke out of jail to be with his dying grandfather wss today back behind bars with a longer sentence.

Paul Kevin Aitchinson, 27, walked out of Moorlands open prison near Doncaster on January 28 part-way through a sentence of nearly five years for house raids, prosecutor David Garnett said.

Simon Kealey, mitigating, said the burglar had left prison to be with his ill grandfather, who had since died. He also wanted to help his sister who was being stalked.

Aitchinson, formerly of Acomb and Dringhouses, pleaded guilty to escape. He is now at Hatfield Prison, near Doncaster, serving the rest of his sentence, plus an extra eight months for jailbreaking.

He was arrested on March 7.

Updated: 09:49 Saturday, March 15, 2003