A Bolton man broke into the home of a man in his eighties and stole items from the room where he was sleeping.

Ali Hassan entered the home of the Henry Lucas on Yarrow Grove, Horwich, as part of a group of three.

At Bolton Crown court he was given a suspended sentence for this and other offences.

Bolton Crown Court heard that Mr Lucas woke up the following day to find a bag containing cards and £200 in cash had been stolen.

The 82-year-old also discovered his car, worth £6,000, had been stolen and the thieves had smashed up a lock to gain entry to the premises.

Hassan then used the bank cards to make two purchases at a nearby Spar and was spotted on CCTV doing so.

He was arrested but the car was never recovered.

Joe Boyd, prosecuting, read a victim impact statement from Mr Lucas.

It said: “I am an elderly man who resides on my own.

“My car has been stolen and a bag containing my personal items has been stolen from my bedroom.

“Learning by bedroom had been entered while I was asleep has let me feeling anxious.”

While on bail for those offences, Hassan, 19 was also found with a knife in public.

Police pursued him on foot on January 26 and found him with a four inch knife with “pizza” written on it.

Hassan, from Gibbon Street, Bolton, appeared in court to be sentenced after admitting burglary, theft of a motor vehicle, two counts of fraud involving use of the bank card and possession of an offensive weapon in a public place.

Nick Ross, defending, said he was “immature” but had learnt a “salutary lesson” having spent his nineteenth birthday detain in prison waiting to be sentenced.

He added that Hassan claimed he did not drive the vehicle away, did not break the lock to enter the property and was unaware of the age of the occupant.

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Judge Sally Hatfield said the knife was a “potentially lethal weapon” but added: “There is a realistic prospect that this will be your first and last involvement in criminality.

“I do think there is a realistic prospect of rehabilitation so I will suspend the sentence.”

She suspended a sentence of one year and eight months for a year and ordered him to carry out 80 hours of unpaid work and attend at 25 rehabilitation activity requirement days.

After Mr Lucas was told the outcome of the case he said: "That is fine.

"I've no idea what it was like, I was asleep at the time.

"I've not got my car back but I didn't use it much any more, I struggle to get out with mobility issues."