A Chester man who committed a house burglary while he was on early release licence from prison has been returned to jail for eight months.

Steven Brian Hill, 35, of Blacon Point Road in Blacon, travelled to Holywell to visit his partner and child.

He ended up stealing cash from a house in the town but was caught thanks to an alert neighbour.

The witness contacted the police when he saw Hill trying a door and looking under a mat as if he was after the key.

He was seen to go down the side of the house and climb a fence.

Police arrived to find a panel in the back door had been kicked in, said prosecuting barrister Ffion Tomos.

The owner returned to find that a number of coins, about £120, had been taken.

At the time of the burglary the owner had been counting the coins, saved in a large vodka bottle, ready for banking.

While a police sergeant was at the property, she saw a man matching the description of the burglar running away.

He refused to stop but other police units arrested him in a car park.

A bag of coins was found nearby.

And a police dog handler followed a trail from the burgled house in Old Chester Road to the car park where Hill was arrested.

He gave a no comment interview but stills from a CCTV system at the attacked premises showed him approaching.

Hill had previous convictions for similar offences and was on early release licence from prison at the time.

The judge, Mr Recorder Paul Hopkins QC, sitting in Mold, said he had broken into the house, stolen cash from downstairs but also violated the occupants’ home by searching upstairs.

“You have an appalling record for dishonesty going back some years,” the judge told him.

The judge warned him that, with his record, he now faced a statutory minimum three year sentence if he committed a further house burglary.

Defending barrister Myles Wilson said it was accepted Hill had only been out of custody six weeks when he committed the burglary. He was at a loss to explain why he had done it.

Previously burglaries had been committed to feed a drugs habit but he had not been on drugs since his release from custody.

It was not planned but opportunistic – something which he now very much regretted.