A MAN from Great Sankey has been jailed for burgling a bungalow on New Year’s Eve in Dallam and then fraudulently using a bank card that he had stolen from the address.

Dale Roberts, of Old Liverpool Road, pleaded guilty to burglary and fraud by false representation.

The 29-year-old was sentenced at Liverpool Crown Court on Tuesday. He was jailed for 31 months and ordered to pay a £170 victim surcharge.

Shortly before 4am on Monday, December 31, Roberts broke into a bungalow in Mullen Close while the occupants were asleep.

They were woken up by the sound of him leaving the property and discovered that an iPhone and a wallet had been stolen.

Police were notified and officers discovered that a bank card which was in the stolen wallet had been used to buy £30 worth of items at Tesco on Winwick Road.

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They attended the supermarket, and after viewing CCTV footage of Roberts buying the items officers gave a description of him to the council employees controlling CCTV cameras in Warrington town centre.

They subsequently located Roberts and notified the police and he was arrested at 5.15am – a little over an hour after he had broken into the bungalow.

Detective Constable Vicky Hancox said: “Burglary is a serious offence in which victims are targeted in the place they should be able to feel most safe, their own home.

“This is Roberts’ third burglary conviction. I am pleased that he is behind bars.

“He can no longer pose a threat to residents’ homes and I hope that the custodial sentence imposed by Liverpool Crown Court deters others from committing similar offences.

“Thankfully, due to the swift work of officers and the local authority’s town centre CCTV operators, in this case the offender was quickly identified and arrested and is now facing the consequences of his actions."