A REPEAT burglar with a drink and valium addiction was yesterday jailed for three-and-a-half years.

Durham Crown Court heard that 28-year-old Michael Holmes Richardson's latest offences, which included breaking into the home of a woman in her 90s, took him beyond the three-year sentence threshold for burglars who offended three times.

Several thousand pounds in cash, as well as ornaments and china, were taken from the woman's house in Waterhouses, near Durham.

Graeme Gaston, prosecuting, said Richardson tried to break into two other homes in the small village in the early hours on October 2.

He was arrested while trying to flee following a subsequent unsuccessful attempt to break into a garage alongside a property in Hunwick, near Crook.

A woman walking her dog nearby later found a bag containing £3,500 taken from a property earlier the same day.

Mr Gaston said that among Richardson's other offences were threats of violence to a licensee after he was asked to leave for taking valium while he played pool at the Sun Inn, in Burnopfield, near Stanley, County Durham.

Richardson, of Station Road, Stanley, admitted two burglaries and two attempted burglaries, all at domestic properties, as well as a charge of affray and possession of a class C drug, relating to the incident in the pub.

He asked for a further nine burglaries and attempted burglaries, including several at garages and outhouses, to be taken into consideration.

James Kemp, in mitigation, said most of Richardson's offending stemmed from his alcohol and valium addiction, often while he was under the influence of both.

Judge Richard Lowden imposed sentences totalling three years for the burglaries and attempted burglaries, to be added to six months for the pub incident.

He will also have to serve 182 days from a previous unserved sentence.