A BURGLAR who sneaked into three homes in just 40 minutes has been jailed for 12 months.

Anthony Horrocks was said to be in a “Valium haze” when he started trying door handles in Padiham, Burnley Crown Court was told.

Jailing the 44-year-old, Judge Sara Dodd said his victims were left feeling “unsafe” in their own homes.

Emma Kehoe, prosecuting, said the spree began when Horrocks was confronted in the Oxford Close home of Peter and Sheila Jackson.

When Mr Jackson came face-to-face with the intruder, Horrocks asked him if ‘Bill’ was in, the court heard.

He was told he must have the wrong house and after he left the pensioner discovered loose change had been stolen from a coat in the hall.

Shortly afterwards Horrocks raided the home of the Haymes family in Lancaster Drive, said Mrs Kehoe.

Robin Haymes heard noises downstairs and assumed her father had returned home from work.

But she later found a silver pocket watch and an imitation pistol, among other items, were missing.

Later Lisa Crowther, who lives in nearby Cleary Street, saw her door was ajar and found Horrocks in her front garden, the court heard.

She challenged him and he claimed he was looking for his aunt, Mrs Kehoe added.

Horrocks, who appeared to be shoving items in his pockets, left the scene but was tracked by the family and arrested by police on railway tracks near Burnley, the court heard.

Marianne Alton, defending, said her client had battled drugs problems before but relapsed around the time of the offences. She told the court he had been, in the words of the author of his pre-sentence report, in a “Valium haze” while carrying out the burglaries.

Horrocks of Stockbridge Road, Padiham, admitted three offences of burglary. He also pleaded guilty to producing cannabis after five plants were found at his home on his arrest.