A BURGLAR was sent to jail yesterday for stealing a pub's takings.

Michael Clare, 32, was jailed for 12 months at Teesside Crown Court for burgling The Lobster pub in Redcar and stealing £1,500 takings.

The court was told that Clare was a long-term drug addict, who said he bought drugs with the pub takings and shared them with other addicts. But he told his lawyers that he was determined to quit drugs while he was in jail.

Nigel Soppitt, mitigating, said that Clare recently found a job as a sandwich maker, had his own flat, and had sought help from a drugs rehabilitation group.

Mr Soppitt said: "He had a very poor start in life but at last he is making substantial efforts to change that."

The judge told Clare that it was a mean offence because he knew the landlady of the pub and was aware that she had previously suffered a stroke.

Clare, who was under the influence of drugs and drink, left bloodstains in the building and he was traced by DNA testing.

Clare from Fulbeck House in Netherfields, Middlesbrough, pleaded guilty to the burglary on August 4 last year.

The landlady, who was uninsured, applied for £1,630 compensation for loss and damage, but the judge made no order because of Clare's prison sentence and lack of funds.