A CONVICTED burglar with an "appalling" record has walked free from court despite being caught with property stolen in a house raid and a shop break-in.

Robert Thornton, from Darlington, was given a suspended prison sentence after a judge heard he had stayed out of trouble for 18 months before his summer "slip".

Within the space of a week in August, a house in the town's Brinkburn Road and the MBM Outdoor Angling Centre in Valley Street North were broken into.

The the householder and her ten-year-old son were away on holiday when raiders took an Xbox 360 games console, controllers, and headset and a television.

Days later, fishing equipment was taken from the store - the same day Thornton sold some of the gaming gear at a shop which deals in second-hand electricals.

The 33-year-old also traded in the television and some of the angling stuff at Cash Convertors - and made a combined £71, Teesside Crown Court heard.

Prosecutor Jenny Haigh said police traced Thornton to a house in which he had been staying in Chandos Street, and found more of the stolen property.

Thornton admitted two charges of handling stolen goods and three of fraud by false representation, and was given a four-month suspended term.

The judge, Recorder Felicity Davies, also ordered that he carries out 150 hours of unpaid community work, and told him: "Matters are in your own hands.

"You know perfectly well if you commit any further offence, even a trivial one, you are likely to go straight to prison and stay there for a substantial period."

Victoria Lamballe, mitigating, admitted Thornton's record - which contains 75 offences - was "appalling" but said he had made good recent progress.

She told the judge that he was jailed for six years for wounding with intent in 2011 and was freed early last year and had stayed out of bother.

"He made positive progress under his licence," Miss Lamballe said. "That's not often a phrase which can be applied to this man in the context of his offending."

Miss Recorder Davies told him: "You have got a very long record, almost entirely for offences of dishonesty, until this long sentence imposed in 2011.

"You could not complain if I sent you straight back to prison today, but there is force in what your counsel says. There is sense in the proposal."