A BUNGLING burglar caught red-handed has been sentenced to a 10-month jail term, suspended for a year.

Prolific offender Robert Richardson, aged 19, of Yewdale Gardens, Breightmet, was caught by police after trying to burgle a home in Foster Lane, Breightmet, last November while the owner was in the house.

Officers found Richardson trying to remove beading from a window with a broken screwdriver. He had already removed a vacuum cleaner from a utility room.

Prosecutor Adam Lodge said the day before, Lodge had stolen items from two cars.

Bolton Crown Court heard that Richardson broke into a car parked in Blenheim Road, Breightmet, and stole a pizza delivery bag and a box of After Eight mints.

At 6.30pm he smashed the back window of a Toyota, stealing a work jacket, a memory card, a table runner and a carpet.

Paul Tonge, defending, said Richardson had used cannabis since the age of 10 and had been in care since he was aged eight.

Mr Tonge said: “He is an inept thief. He donned a high-visibility vest he stole and took a pizza delivery bag. Heaven knows how he was going to get that vacuum cleaner away in daylight. He believed the property was empty.”

Recorder Elizabeth Nicholls, sentencing him yesterday, said: “Although I accept the thefts from the motor vehicles aren’t the most serious, they are a nuisance offences and cause distress and nuisance.

“You now hold your future in your own hands. You will be released from prison, but you have a prison sentence hanging over you. It’s in your hands if you serve it.”

Richardson, who has been on remand since he was arrested in November, asked for 14 other offences of thefts from vehicles to be taken into consideration.

He was also ordered to do 50 hours of unpaid work and complete a 12-month supervision requirement.