TWO men who carried out a spate of house burglaries have been jailed.

Paul Rowntree, 21, admitted six break-ins in the Sunderland area during August last year, and Matthew Rainton, 19, pleaded guilty to four, at Newcastle Crown Court.

Property worth £3,500 was taken from a house in Fort-rose Avenue. The pair had packed the goods into the householder's Vauxhall Passat and made off with them.

Another home owner lost more than £3,000-worth of jewellery.

Rowntree and Rainton were each jailed for three years. Rowntree received an extra six months from a deferred sentence for burglary and handling stolen goods.

Rowntree, of Ashwood Avenue, Marley Potts, Sunderland, admitted two charges of taking a vehicle without the owner's consent and one of aggravated vehicle taking.

Rainton, of Garnett Street, Pallion, Sunderland, admitted two charges of allowing himself to be carried in a stolen vehicle.

A 16-year-old accused of acting as look out at the Fortrose Avenue raid was cleared of the charge