A PROLIFIC burglar who tried to claim he was being stitched up over a series of house thefts has been jailed for seven years.

At Bolton Crown Court Judge Timothy Stead told Heath Griffiths that there was no alternative but to send him to prison after a jury found him guilty of eight burglaries in his latest crime spree.

"You are a committed burglar in terms of the sheer number of occasions you have come before the courts," said Judge Stead.

"It is quite apparent you are incorrigible. The only relief the citizens will get is when you are in custody."

The court heard that 49-year-old Griffiths, who had used 13 different aliases and three different dates of birth in the past, has been sentenced for committing house burglaries on eight previous occasions.

Defending himself in a six day trial, he alleged that blood found at several crime scenes containing his DNA had been planted.

He also alleged that police were lying about finding stolen goods, a large screwdriver and chisel on him when they arrested him in January 5 this year as he hid in a garden.

A jury was told how, from October 2014 Griffiths, of Duxbury Avenue, Little Lever, had targeted six homes, including an elderly person's sheltered flat, as well as a pizza shop and a garage.

But the bungling burglar ended up leaving blood evidence at a house in Bamburgh Close, Radcliffe, Pizza Planet in Radcliffe and a garage in Ascot Road, Little Lever.

He also left fingerprints on stolen items in a bag he dropped outside St Augustine's Court, Tonge Moor as he fled after being disturbed.

Griffiths was finally caught shortly after being confronted by a woman in her living room on Pegamoid Street, Tonge Moor, running off and trying to hide in a nearby garden.