A REFORMED burglar who has been put on the straight and narrow by working with an East Lancashire homeless charity was spared jail by a judge.

Andrew Hill, 36, was appearing for sentence at Burnley Crown Court after admitting breaking into the home of Leonard Townley, in Moss Hall Road, Accrington.

Prosecutor Richard Archer said Mr Townley had visited the town centre briefly and returned home to find his front door was wide open, with a half-brick used to smash a window to gain entry.

He found that a number of rooms had been searched by an intruder but he could not establish whether anything had been taken.

Blood was discovered on the broken front door window which was linked to Hill, who Mr Townley knew of through one of his neighbours.

Hill was arrested and initially claimed he had been ‘stitched up’ but later confessed to carrying out the break-in.

Defence counsel Phililp Holden said the defendant, who had drug problems, had a criminal record with a number of convictions for acquistive crime.

But Hill had been living recently at Emmaus House, in Burnley, which had a strict drugs policy and undertook regular urine tests on residents, and room searches.

His client had been repairing furniture and cooking for fellow residents, and had been given ‘clean’ results for a number of drugs tests, the court heard.

Hill, formerly of Accrington but now of Booth Court, Burnley, admitted burglary and Judge Beverley Lunt gave him a 12-month prison sentence, suspended for two years.