A BURGLAR who was last month jailed for three-and-a-half years has been sentenced for burgling another house two days earlier.

Gareth Walker, pictured, aged 29, broke into the home of an elderly couple in Rectory Road, Shelton, while they were out on Sunday, January 17, and stole their treasured possessions.

He was arrested less than a week later and jailed on February 3.

But he appeared before Stoke-on-Trent Crown Court again yesterday for burgling a home in Uttoxeter Road, Meir, two days earlier on January 15.

Judge Granville Styler jailed him for 39 months, to run concurrently to the 42-month sentence he passed last month.

Prosecutor Fiona Cortese said the homeowner left her house secure at 11.30am, and returned with her children at 5pm to find a brick had been used to smash a window.

Electrical items and jewellery were taken by Walker.

A scenes of crime officer found a shoe print on a plastic folder in a bedroom, which linked Walker to the crime.

On his arrest, Walker told police: "I did it."

He made full admissions in his police interview, saying it was opportunistic crime. He said he sold the jewellery at a pawnbroker's shop in Hanley, and sold two laptops and a camera to a friend for £200.

The court heard the break-in has affected the family. The children did not stay at the house for four days, and the family has now put their home up for sale, because they no longer feel safe there.

A ring taken by Walker was of great sentimental value to the victim. It was handed down from her late grandfather to her mother and then to her, and she hoped to pass it on to her daughter one day.

Walker, of Elm Court Road, Abbey Hulton, who has 26 convictions for 45 previous offences, including several burglaries, pleaded guilty to burglary via a video link from HMP Dovegate.

Judge Granville Styler said had he sentenced Walker for this burglary at the same time as the Shelton one, he would have passed concurrent terms as they were committed within two days of each other.

He told the defendant: "You will not serve any longer sentence than you are presently serving."