A HOUSEHOLDER watched from behind her net curtains as an intruder tried to prise his way into her home.

Burnley Crown Court heard how the woman's kitchen window had been boarded up after a burglary. Her sister phoned police, who arrived to find Ian Ashworth, 33, trying to prise open a window with a spade.

Ashworth was sent to prison for 21 months after admitting burglary, attempted burglary and failing to surrender. He was committed for sentence by magistrates.

Sentencing the defendant, of Exchange Street, Colne, Recorder Anthony Sander said that his record, with more than 30 previous convictions for burglary, made depressing reading.

The judge said the victim of the attempted burglary had already suffered the 'hurt and upset' of having her home burgled. He went on: "Then, low and behold, you come along and try and get in." Sue Riley, prosecuting, said Ashworth took a microwave from a house on Green Road, Colne, while the occupant was away.

The victim found all rooms appeared to have been searched. Even though his finger prints were found at the property, the defendant continued to deny the offence to police and could offer no explanation for the presence of the prints.

Ashworth tried his hand at breaking into a house on Devonshire Road, Burnley, while the occupant was in. She watched as he tried to pull a piece of wood from the boarded-up kitchen window and could see something like a monkey wrench. Police arrived and found Ashworth trying to prise open a window with a spade.

Anthony Cross, defending, said he conceded custody was bound to follow.

Ashworth lived on the fringes of the world of the supply of heroin. He had pleaded guilty before magistrates and been in custody. As a convicted prisoner, without privileges, an experienced 'lag' would not usually take that course.

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