A THIEF who agreed to go burgling homes with his neighbour was caught by police with a stolen iPhone in his pocket.

Liam Chalmers, who has previously served prison sentences for drug dealing and violence, teamed up with his accomplice and broke into a house on Pear Tree Drive, Farnworth in the early hours of March 25 last year.

The householder, who lives at the property with her two sons, was woken at 3am by a noise.

"She heard a bang and checked, initially thinking something had fallen off the bed, but couldn't identify anything, thought nothing of it and managed to doze back off to sleep," Adam White, prosecuting, told Bolton Crown Court.

But a short time later the woman heard voices inside the house and got out of bed to investigate, thinking it was one of her sons talking to their friends.

After shouting out she heard someone rushing down the stairs and, following, found her front door wide open.

"She shouted her son, again assuming it was him who had opened it," said Mr White.

"She then noticed two males at the bottom of the drive chatting to one another.

"One of them said 'bye love' to her and they then walked off down the street."

Police, who were already in the area after reports of attempted break-ins at two other properties, found 32-year-old Chalmers, dressed in dark clothing, on Lancaster Avenue.

After a short chase Chalmers, who was drunk, was found to have several items on him, including an iPhone stolen from the house in Pear Tree Drive. A laptop also stolen, worth £400, has not been found.

Chalmers, of Dunbar Drive, Great Lever, pleaded guilty to burglary. The court heard that he already has convictions for 40 previous offences.

Henry Blackshaw, defending, said that Chalmers has an unattractive criminal record, with his first crimes committed when he was in his mid-teens, but had remained offence-free more recently and was leading a more settled life with his partner.

On the night of the burglary, Chalmers was drunk and encountered a neighbour, who Mr Blackshaw described as a habitual thief.

"The defendant knew him as such. He went along with him on that night as he was going about his usual nightly business of stealing from other people," said Mr Blackshaw, who added that Chalmers accepts his share of responsibility for the crime.

Chalmers sank to his chair in the dock and sobbed as Recorder Alexandra Simmonds sentenced him to two years in prison.

She told him that his victim had been "understandably shaken and scared" by the burglary and there is no realistic prospect of him being rehabilitated in the community.