A BURGLAR was jailed after a woman gave police a running commentary by telephone about the intruder outside her home.

The woman spotted drug addict Graham Swales in her neighbour's garden in Saltburn, east Cleveland, but then he turned his attention to her home, twice knocking on her front door.

She was already on her phone in a bedroom, describing his behaviour to police, who arrived and arrested him nearby, said Laura Reevell, prosecuting.

Swales, 33, told them about other properties he had burgled in Saltburn in February and March - two houses and a shop.

He said that he needed money for a drugs debt and for food, Teesside Crown Court was told. He had been released from prison early with an electronic tag on July 14, said Miss Reevell.

Nigel Soppitt, mitigating, said that Swales's life had been ruined by drugs, but when he was off them he realised the anxiety he caused people by his behaviour.

Mr Soppitt said: "He accepts that he is too old to go on like this, and that friends have died from drug abuse.

"He has aspirations in prison to equip himself to do better in the outside world."

The judge, Recorder Andrew Lees, told Swales: "Drugs are no excuse for committing this sort of crime."

Swales, of Irvin Avenue, Saltburn, pleaded guilty to two house burglaries and an attempted house burglary, and a shop burglary in February and March.

He was sentenced to two years jail and 415 days remaining from the previous sentence.