A BURGLAR who has spent almost half of his life in prison has returned to jail just weeks after his latest release following a spate of burglaries.

Serial thief Stephen Hoskin, 36, was jailed for three and a half years after admitting two raids in a matter of days.

He had only been out of prison for six weeks for burglary when he returned to housebreaking to pay off a £3,000 drugs debt, a court heard.

Hoskin has served sentences totalling 15 years, since he was a teenager, for burgling houses in the Burnley area, the town's crown court was told.

But when he was released from a four-year prison term, he sought help for his ongoing drugs problems and secured his own home, the court heard.

Judith McCullough, defending, said that inevitably though, he bumped into some old friends and he came to the attention of a drug dealer, who he owed a substantial debt.

"It is perhaps not surprising that he decided to sort out the matter by returning to offending. This is all he has ever known," said Miss McCullough.

Prosecutor Francis McEntee told the court how Hoskin was involved in two burglaries in Briercliffe Road in the space of a few days.

In the first raid he forced the kitchen door of a family home while the mother was picking up her children from school. She returned to find jewellery worth £3,000 and cash totalling £450, and various bank and store cards missing.

Days later an 84-year-old woman, also of Briercliffe Road, went to bed after having locked up her house. She awoke the next day to find out that someone had removed a window in her pantry and stolen food, including eggs, cartons of fruit and supplements worth £30.

Police linked Hoskin to the first burglary after a footprint was left by him at the scene. Investigating officers also recovered a fingerprint from the woman’s pantry window which matched the defendant's profile.

Arrested and interviewed, Hoskin initially denied any involvement but later confessed to carrying out the raids, and took police on a short tour around the town, detailing other burglaries he had carried out during the same time frame.

Miss McCullough said that Hoskin, who had repaid approximately half of his drugs debt when he was arrested by police, knew he needed to be punished for his behaviour.

Hoskin, of Granby Street, Burnley, was recalled to prison after his initial arrest and must serve the remainder of his 2006 sentence, giving him an earliest release date of April 2010.

Passing sentence on the Briercliffe Road burglaries, Judge Jonathan Gibson jailed him for 42 months and said: "Offences of burglary cause misery for householders, as I am sure you have been told before."