A BURGLAR addicted to drugs was given a second chance when a judge decided not to send him to jail.

Recorder Michael Davies sentenced Kirk Telford to a 12-month Drug Treatment and Testing Order after reading a pre-sentence report on the offender.

Telford had admitted burgling a house while the occupants were in bed. He stole a DVD player and two mobile phones.

Prosecutor Adrian Dugdale told Bolton Crown Court that Telford forced open a window in the conservatory.

He was caught when police obtained a search warrant for Telford's home on another matter.

The defendant was found by police hiding under his bed. Inside a wardrobe in his room they discovered the stolen items.

Telford, aged 21, of Tig Fold Road, Farnworth, admitted burglary at Malvern Close, in Farnworth. He asked for two other offences, burglary and criminal damage, to be taken into consideration.

Those offences took place in Oxford Close and Taunton Drive, in Farnworth.

At both scenes he left blood which DNA experts traced back to him.

His criminal record included damaging property, theft, going equipped for theft, obtaining property by deception and handling stolen goods.