JAILED: Wolverhampton burglar stole from his mother and seven-year-old brother

Robert Jay turned to crime after his partner was killed in a car cash, a judge heard.

The talented and intelligent 29-year-old had a bright future until drink and drugs 'unravelled' his life, Wolverhampton Crown Court was told.

Jay posed as a house hunter to steal up to £100 cash from a drawer while being shown round a property for sale in Lea Bank, Finchfield on September 24 2013 - three months after being freed from a prison sentence imposed for a similar offence, revealed Mr Scott Coughtrie, prosecuting.

The defendant was arrested a fortnight later but while on bail waiting for the case to come to court got into the home of his mother in Cherrington Gardens, Finchfield through an unsecure door on July 9 2014 and stole a computer which he sold at a local internet cafe for £100, the court heard.

Five months later, on December 12, he struck again at the same address after forcing open a patio door and plundered the money box of his seven-year-old brother, escaping with £60, continued the prosecutor.

Blood found at the scene matched the DNA of Jay who was also identified on the CCTV from the internet cafe where the computer was sold, it was said.

Mr Gurdeep Garcha, defending, explained: "He is a very bright well qualified man whose life was heading in a positive direction until his partner was killed in a car accident almost four years ago.

"That tragic event caused his life to unravel.

"He became heavily addicted to alcohol and started to abuse cocaine. The drink and drugs clouded his mind when he committed these offences to get money. He thought burgling the home of his mother was the better of two evils and preferable to making a complete stranger suffer."

Jay from Brantley Avenue, Finchfield pleaded guilty to the three burglaries and was sent to prison for 27 months by Judge John Wait who told him: "With your talent there is still time to turn your life around."