A BURGLAR kicked a hole in a glass door to gain access to a shopping centre, a court was told yesterday.
Teesside Crown Court heard how Shaun McGee, 29, climbed through the hole in the glass and into the Thames Shopping Centre, in Newton Aycliffe, County Durham, at 1.15am.
Christopher Baker, prosecuting, said McGee set off a security alarm and was caught by police after he fled back through the hole.
He was found to be wearing a dark jacket which matched fibres found on a house window in Milburn Court, Newton Aycliffe where an intruder had been spotted earlier the same day, Teesside Crown Court heard.
McGee told police he had wriggled partly through the ground-floor window of the house, looking for purses.
Yesterday, McGee, of Scott Street, Shildon, was jailed for two years after he pleaded guilty to the two burglaries with intent to steal.
The judge Recorder Geoffrey Marson QC told him: "I am afraid that we have come to the end of the road, and there is no alternative but to impose an immediate custodial sentence."
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