A SERIAL burglar who struck repeatedly in Burnley over several weeks has been jailed for 15 months at the town's crown court.

Drug addict Dean Ormonde committed a series of raids while the victims were not at home and was caught after he left footprints at each of the properties.

Ormonde, 28, of Wren Street, Burnley, was already behind bars after being recalled for the second time while on licence following a manslaughter charge.

He admitted four burglaries, handling stolen goods and asked for four offences, also house raids, to be considered.

The court was told he wanted to "wipe the slate clean", start afresh and tackle his drug addiction.

Ormonde will start the new prison term when the manslaughter sentence expires in September.

Francis McEntee, prosecuting, said Ormonde broke into a house in Wordsworth Street, Burnley, while the householder was in hospital, and took clothing worth nearly £300.

A Lionel Street family went away on holiday and returned to find their home had been broken into and property worth £7,000 had been taken.

Mr McEntee said a victim living on Dugdale Road returned home one night to find a window had been forced and a considerable amount of items had been taken.

Mr McEntee said officers recovered DVDs, two Manchester United match tickets, spirits and other property, stolen from Dugdale Road. They also found a DVD player, drill and watch which had come from a burglary on Wren Street.

The court heard that police had retained Ormonde's trainers and when they were checked against the footprints left at the houses, they matched.

Ormonde later confessed to carrying out the burglaries and a string of other similar raids.

Mr McEntee said Ormonde had a record for burglaries and had received a 78-month sentence for manslaughter, which was later reduced on appeal.