Burglar with 13 break-ins on his record jailed over two early morning raids in Sunderland just months apart

Robert Young, 39, broke into the first first property in Sunderland during the early hours of August 5 last year and made off with goods from a fridge stored in the garage.

Newcastle Crown Court heard that Young was given bail so a drug rehabilitation requirement assessment (DRR) could be carried out before he was sentenced – but in December he struck again at a different house.

Joe Cully, prosecuting, said that Young tried the doors to the homeowner's car which was sat in the garage first but had no success.

Mr Cully said: "The first offence was at half-past three in the morning on August 5.

"The defendant climbed over a rear wall on Cedar's Crescent in Sunderland.

"He walked to the rear garage door and tried all of the doors on an Audi A4 without gaining entry before opening a fridge in the garage."

The court heard Young stole food items to the value of about £85 before climbing a wall to leave.

Just less than four months later, on December 1, Young struck again at 2am at a house on Percy Terrace South.

Mr Culley said that CCTV showed he had left the address but returned just less than half an hour later and took a bike to the value of around £800, which later appeared on Gumtree under the seller name 'Maxine', damaging the roof in the process.

The owner of the bike described it as his "pride and joy" during a brief victim impact statement, as well as asking the court to take "positive and strict" action against Young.