A BURGLAR who raided a house discovered that he was robbing a dead man, a court heard yesterday.
Edward Temple got the fright of his life when he went to the pensioner's home a second time, and discovered the man's body upstairs.
Temple, 30, fled in terror from the Teesside house but did not tell the police for fear of being suspected of murdering the 68-year-old.
A post mortem examination later showed that the man had died from pneumonia, said David Brooke, prosecuting.
Yesterday, Temple wiped away tears after he pleaded guilty to burgling the house two days running last October and stealing a television and video recorder and bottles of spirits.
He was not the only burglar who had gone into the house in Blaybarry Close, Redcar, after the death of pensioner Kenneth Short, said Mr Brooke.
The man's empty wallet was found near his body, on the first-floor landing.
David Lamb, defending, said that four boys playing football nearby first told Temple that the front door was open.
When he first went inside he thought that it was abandoned.
But then he found the body on his second visit, Teesside Crown Court heard.
Mr Lamb said: "To his abject horror, he discovered the unfortunate Mr Shaw and he ran as fast as he could and left the house. What he should have done was to report what he had seen to the police immediately.
"He was concerned that he may be arrested for an offence far more serious than he finds himself before the court today."
Judge Peter Fox QC told weeping Temple: "I see how ashamed you are of having taken advantage of the tragic circumstances which befell the householder. But this is no ordinary house burglary."
Temple, from Redcar, but now of no fixed address, pleaded guilty to the burglaries. He was given two years probation with a condition that he lived in a hostel for six months
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