A raider has been jailed for three years after breaking into a pub in Helmshore.

Gareth Taylor was seen walking past the bedroom door by heavily pregnant victim Charlotte Wright, who had been asleep at The Station Hotel on March 16, a court heard.

Taylor, aged 41, a heroin addict and alcoholic, stole motorbike leathers belonging to Miss Wright’s partner, landlord Michael Murphy.

The defendant, formerly of Broadway Crescent, Helmshore, but more recently of Hornby Street, Bury, had denied the allegation of burglary, but was convicted after a trial.

Recorder David Williams told Burnley Crown Court that Taylor targeted the flat in the pub, knowing there would be a woman there.

He continued: “In your pre-sentence report you told a probation officer you were guilty, you were responsible for that burglary. Notwithstanding that, you ran a trial.”

The judge said the case caused Ms Wright the distress of having to give evidence and made her relive what happened in court. He told Taylor: “The courts have to send a message out to people like you. If you commit burglaries you go to prison and if there are aggravating features, the sentence goes up.”