A DRUG addict who embarked on a spree of burglaries around Weymouth has been jailed for 21 months.

Alan Beau Barlow, 47, was sentenced at Dorchester Crown Court after admitting three charges of burglary.

The offences occurred within a three week period from September 27 to October 16 last year.

Prosecutor Carolyn Branford-Wood told the court that the first incident involved him breaking into a property in St David’s Road while the homeowner was out and stealing a number of electrical items, including two laptops and a digital camera, as well as jewellery and foreign currency.

The burglary was traced back to Barlow after the homeowner’s son found some of the electrical items for sale on the internet and the seller said he had been offered them by the defendant.

The second offence saw a 75-year-old woman return home in Grove Avenue from holiday to find entry had been forced to the property and an untidy search had taken place.

A gold necklace, cash, a pair of rubber gloves and a tea towel had been taken from the home.

Swabs from a chisel left at the scene were found to produce a match for Barlow.

The final burglary saw Barlow steal cash, a pearl necklace, a silver compass, a silver box and a wooden box from a property in Alexandra Road, again when the homeowners were away on holiday.

The compass was found at Barlow’s property when he was arrested.

Barlow, of Abbotsbury Road, Weymouth, denied the offences in interview but offered his guilty pleas at the earliest opportunity when he appeared at court.

Tim Shorter, mitigating, said the defendant – who had 28 previous convictions for 45 offences – had committed the offences as a result of his drug addiction but had proved in the past that he had been able to keep out of trouble when he had been able to get clean of drugs.

He added: “He accepts entirely these must have been very disturbing incidents for the householders and he knows the only way he can avoid committing these offences in the future is to avoid non prescribed drugs.”

Judge Roger Jarvis told the defendant: “Burglaries cause victims considerable distress.

“It needs little imagination to appreciate the sense of shock and outrage from returning to one’s home to find it has been invaded by a stranger.

“There has been a ransacking or untidy search of the property and items, some of them very precious, have been taken.”