A SERIAL burglar was jailed for 16 months after taking two pairs of jeans from a washing line and trying to escape from police with a stolen TV remote control in his pocket, a court heard.

Brynmawr man Craig Knapp had already notched up 31 convictions for 87 offences when he appeared at Newport Crown Court where he pleaded guilty to the burglary of a property on Aylesbury Avenue, Ebbw Vale.

Knapp, 32, formerly of Gurnos Estate, has been at Cardiff Prison since the latest burglary on June 10.

Prosecutor James Wilson told the court Knapp entered the property at around 4.15am while the 75-year-old owner slept upstairs. But, a neighbour heard a noise and looked out to see two pairs of jeans missing from his line and Knapp crouching near the victim’s back door clutching a ladder.

Mr Wilson said police were called and Knapp tried to escape over a wall, with nothing more than a Samsung television remote control in his pocket.

Police found the defendant had left the fridge door of the property open and placed cushions on the living room floor with a Freeview recorder, Sony video recorder and Sky box.

Nicholas Gedge, for Knapp, said his client has been dogged by homelessness and drug addiction, adding: "There was no ransacking and only evidence of a search in one room while the only item he left with was a remote control".

The offence put Knapp in breach of a suspended nine-month sentence, handed to him in April for two counts of burglary.

Both offences took place last October, with him entering a Brynmawr property armed with a claw hammer and metal bar and he also took money from a TV coin box at an Ebbw Vale home.

Knapp has been in prison since June serving the nine-month term, with Judge Rhys Rowlands adding a 16 month sentence for the latest offence, which started on Friday and will run concurrently.

Judge Rowlands said: "The sentencing judge leniently gave you a chance last time, but you repaid it by not abiding by the terms of your suspended sentence."