A JUDGE had told a three-strike burglar who broke into the home of a pensioner while he slept that he may not receive a prison sentence.

Daniel Wilkinson should face a mandatory three year jail term because of his record of breaking into people’s houses.

But judges are allowed to stray from the regulation if they feel it would be ‘unjust’ to impose the compulsory sentence.

And Judge William Hart, sitting at Swindon Crown Court, decided to put off passing sentence on the 32-year-old to see if a community based sentence could be found for him.

Claire Marlow, prosecuting, told the court that the victim had gone to bed at his home on Shrivenham Road at 10.20pm on November 6. Shortly after 11pm he heard someone downstairs and called the police, who were on the scene in three minutes.

Officers saw the intruder running away and apprehended him. They found he had got in by breaking a window in the utility room and had taken three mobile phones and chargers and some cigarettes. Wilkinson, of Amber Court, Colbourne Street, pleaded guilty to one charge of burglary.

The court was told he had a long history of crime and breaking into people’s houses, having been jailed for three years in 2004 and in 2006, when his 85-year-old victim was so terrified she suffered an angina attack.

Robin Shellard, defending, said at first it appeared it was another case of a drug addict coming out of jail and returning to his old ways but he said his client was not back on drugs and had committed the offence to pay back a debt to his father.

Wilkinson’s father had loaned cash to the defendant and his brother, who still has a drug habit, he told the court.

His client gave his repayment to the brother to hand over but the brother apparently spent the money on drugs.

Mr Shellard said Wilkinson decided to try to get the money to avoid the shame of letting his father down.

He said: “Daniel Wilkinson, for all his faults, has never stolen from his parents.”

He said his client thought the property was empty and was shocked to find it not only occupied but with a pensioner.

Mr Shellard said that his client had not returned to his old ways in the 21 months since his release from custody.

Remanding him in custody Judge Hart said: “I am prepared to adjourn sentence to ask the probation service to consider whether there is a realistic alternative to custody.”

He said there was a recent court of appeal case which said he could impose a community sentence on a repeat burglar in a bid to break the cycle of crime.