A DRUG addict took a collection box containing just £7 in a break-in at the home of an elderly churchgoer.
Gary Smith, 22, carried out the daytime burglary at the house where the 72-year-old woman lives alone in Sacriston, near Durham.
She returned home to find the sitting room ransacked, although the only item missing was the collection box.
Durham Crown Court heard Smith was caught after he left a fingerprint on a bureau.
Smith, 22, of Lilac Avenue, Sacriston, admitted burglary and was jailed for 18 months.
Recorder Andrew Lees ordered the sentence to begin at the end of a four-month term Smith is now serving.
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