DRUG addict Brett Neal took his chance when he saw a Kidderminster pensioner leave home to pick up her granddaughter from school, Worcester Crown Court was told.

He spotted an open kitchen window and got into the house and stole a handbag, said Mr John Edwards, prosecuting.

When the pensioner returned to her home in Claines Crescent, she confronted Neal at the garden gate and noticed he looked shifty.

She spotted another window was open and the handbag containing her cheque book and £150 worth of jewellery had gone. Neal was arrested 10 minutes later in Lea Street.

Neal, of Comberton Hill, Kidderminster, was jailed for 18 months after admitting the burglary.

He told police he was short of money to fund his heroin habit.

Mr Edwards said Neal was on bail for theft at the time of the burglary. He was made the subject of a community rehabilitation order by Kidderminster magistrates on June 1.

David Pearson, defending, said part of the order was that Neal should attend a drug programme which would start in November.

Judge Andrew Geddes said Neal had 12 previous convictions mainly for offences to fund his drug dependancy.