A CRIMINAL whose offending has been fuelled by heroin addiction has been jailed for burgling a house in Carlisle.

The city's crown court heard how Ryan Ferguson, 25, who committed his latest offence on September 29, was caught after he raided a home in Denton Street, Denton Holme.

He stole £90 from a wallet belonging to the teenager who lived there with his mother.

The stolen cash was what had been left of the victim's "birthday money", said prosecutor Brendan Burke, outlining the case.

The defendant, of Thorburn Crescent, Annan, admitted burglary.

He was caught after he left blood on the wallet he found in the house.

The court heard how Ferguson already has 49 criminal convictions on his criminal record - including previous burglaries.

For that reason, said Mr Burke, he came under the "three strikes" provision of a law designed to give repeat burglars a minimum three years in jail as a starting point for their sentence.

The defendant's defence barrister Paul Tweddle said the case illustrated the damaging effect of addiction.

The lawyer told Judge Nicholas Barker: "He is a man who comes before the court as a result of the horrors of heroin."

A long-standing addict, he was philosophical about his plight, said the lawyer, who described heroin as pernicious.

Judge Barker jailed Ferguson for 876 days, telling him: "You have a heroin addiction and you have had it for some time.

"That is why you commit offences and till such time as you take that addiction in hand and overcome it.

"It seems to me that you will continue to commit such offences."

The judge added that the minimum sentence provision would protect the public from him, and from people like him.