A CONVICTED sex attacker who tried to sneak into three pensioners' homes in Burnley has been jailed for 18 months.

Leon Slattery, 24, had downed a litre of vodka, with orange, after visiting his little girl and was carrying a bag of alcohol.

He told one victim he was from the council and claimed he was looking for a friend when another challenged him as he stood in her porch. The women were left frightened by his actions.

Burnley Crown Court was told the defendant, who was on a community order at the time, also had convictions for being a conman and had run a scam collecting window cleaning money.

In 2002, he was jailed for five years for indecent assault in the town.

The defendant, originally from Burnley, but now living on Montrose Close, Blackburn, admitted burglary and two charges of attempted burglary, last June 3.

Slattery was also given an indefinite restraining order, banning him from the area where the victims lived and from contacting them.

Jonathan Dickinson, prosecuting, said a man was visiting his 85-year-old mother, when Slattery entered the house at 8.30pm.

The defendant claimed he was 'looking for Dorothy', was told nobody of that name was there and left.

Mr Dickinson said about 15 minutes later, Slattery opened the back door of a woman's bungalow nearby. When the victim, who was expecting her son as it was her 71st birthday, asked what he was doing, he claimed he was from the council and left when she asked for identification. She called the police and later picked him out on an identity parade.

Slattery then moved onto another victim and was challenged when she found him in her porch.

He asked her if 'Danny Thompson' lived there, picked up his carrier bag and left.

He was arrested at 8.50pm, on Holcombe Drive, admitted he had been to the properties and alleged he had been looking for a friend.

Katie Jones, for Slattery, said his memory of the events was not good because of the amount he had had to drink.