A SUSPECTED burglar claimed he was trying to stay fit when he was caught on closed-circuit security cameras running through Darlington town centre at 4am.

Malcolm Hutchinson, 24, was first filmed running away from a Next store after a £1,000 window had been shattered, said David Scutt, prosecuting.

The cameras tracked Hutchinson through the town centre and showed him trying to hide.

They then recorded him climbing on to a flat roof as a police car approached and eventually he lowered himself from the side of The George pub.

Police searched the roof and found an insecure door leading into the pub kitchen. They found Hutchinson hiding in a cupboard, Teesside Crown Court was told.

He was sweating profusely and holding a carrier bag.

He said: "You've got nothing on me."

Inside the bag were three of the landlord's shirts.

Mr Scutt said: "Shown the video, he agreed it was him running, but he said it was because he wanted to stay fit. He said he went into the pub to hide and not to steal."

Dan Cordey, defending, said Hutchinson had a heroin habit and he was wandering the streets in an upset state after his grandmother discovered his addiction and he had to leave her home.

After breaking the window the police were on his trail and he went looking for somewhere to hide.

Hutchinson, of Chelmsford Street, Darlington, was jailed for nine months after he pleaded guilty to burglary and theft at The George, and criminal damage at Next on May 21.

He is already serving a nine-moth jail sentence imposed in March by Newton Aycliffe magistrates for two shoplifting offences, criminal damage and possession of cannabis