A BURGLARY victim tracked down the man who raided his home thanks to an iPhone app, a court heard.

Bolton Crown Court was told the householders had gone to bed at 4am on November 15 last year after hosting a party at their home in Stoneclough.

But when they woke in the morning they discovered their house had been searched and car keys, electrical items, mobile phones and a watch had been stolen.

And when they looked out of the window they saw their Range Rover, worth £65,000 and a Ford Ranger were also gone, Jonathan Savage, prosecuting told Bolton Crown Court.

On CCTV two men were seen outside the house and are believed to have got in through a conservatory window as the family slept.

One of the items taken was an iPhone belonging to one of the resident's friend and when the householder accessed its installed Find My iPhone app it revealed the device was in My Street, Weaste.

After contacting police, the victim and his brother-in-law went to the street and spotted a man they recognised from their CCTV footage.

The phone was moved to another address in Kingsford Street, Weaste, which police visited and arrested 25-year-old Daniel Pennington. The father of three, from Edgehill Close, Salford, pleaded guilty to burglary.

Police managed to recover the Ford Ranger and several items from the burglary, but Judge Graeme Smith was told that the valuable Ranger Rover and other goods have never been found.

Adam Brown, defending, said Pennington, a former labourer who has previous convictions for burglary, had run up £1,000 in drug debts.

“He wishes to extend his apologies to the court and the family concerned,” he added.

Sentencing Pennington to 43 months in prison, Judge Smith told him: “Any burglary of a domestic premises is very serious because it is somewhere that is private and believed to be protected by the people who live there.”

He added that, due to the time he will spend in prison, Pennington will not experience formative years of his children’s lives.

“That is an inevitable consequence of what you have done,” said Judge Smith.

“You now have time to reflect that if you want to spend further time with your children as they grow older you have to stop offending.”