A CAREER criminal with 35 previous convictions for burglary is back behind bars after he raided a home while a pregnant woman was sleeping upstairs.

Joseph Curley, 47, from Newport, walked into the home near the city centre through an unlocked door and stole a wallet, purse and Lenovo laptop.

Jailing him, Judge Catherine Richards told him: “Once again you have brought fear and anxiety into other people’s lives.”

Cardiff Crown Court heard how Curley, of Charles Street, had 48 previous convictions for 114 offences.

MORE NEWS:

Prosecutor James Evans said that 23 of these were for non-dwelling burglaries and 12 were for dwelling burglaries.

Curley carried out the raid when the pregnant woman and her partner were asleep in May.

Mr Evans said: “They became aware of what had happened when the male complainant received a message on his mobile phone from his bank to say that his cards had been refused at the Shell petrol station on Malpas Road.”

The defendant had tried to use the cards there and he was captured on CCTV cameras.

After the cards were refused Curley used a £20 note from the man’s wallet to pay for goods there.

Police also found his DNA on a birthday card he had opened in the house in the hope of finding money inside and recovered some of the stolen property from his home.

Curley pleaded guilty to burglary.

Mr Evans said he was jailed for 40 months for burglary in 2012 and for 50 months in 2015.

Scott Bowen, representing the defendant, said: “There is not a great deal that can be said in mitigation.”

He asked the court to take into account his early guilty plea.

Judge Richards jailed Curley for 876 days and told him he would have to pay a victim surcharge upon his release from custody.