A CARELESS Carlisle burglar who left his mobile phone at the scene of one of his crimes has been jailed after a judge described him as a “menace”.

Simon Highmore, 31, whose 119 previous offences include numerous thefts and burglaries mostly from garages and sheds, pleaded guilty to his latest offence – stealing a £250 bike from a garage in Newfield Drive in the city on November 14.

He was sentenced at the city’s crown court for that and five other offences which he had admitted at an earlier hearing.

These were possessing cocaine and diazempam as well as another garage burglary and handling stolen goods.

The court heard that he raided the garage in Newfield Drive just a month after being released from an earlier jail term.

Shortly after the sneaked into the garage and stole the bike, he was spotted acting suspiciously in nearby Pinecroft.

A resident there saw him – dressed all in black – crouched down near his property, and carrying a rucksack.

He appeared almost in a “comatose state” and the householder nudged him with his foot to wake him, said prosecutor Tim Evans.

When woken, he moved away but police later found him hiding in a bush.

At the scene of a second garage burglary which had happened on the same day nearby, when linseed was stolen, police found a hammer, a screwdriver, and a mobile phone belonging to the defendant.

“It was plainly this defendant’s as it had photos of him on it,” said Mr Evans.

When police searched Highmore’s Newtown Road home, they found other stolen goods - including golf clubs, a hedge trimmer, outdoor lighting equipment, and a bike which had been stolen from a conservatory at the home of a student.

Brendan Burke, for the defendant, said Highmore was worried about his father, who was “dying of heart disease” and awaiting a transplant. “It’s something that weighs heavily on him while he is incarcerated,” said the barrister.

He added that the defendant was now benefitting from a “stable relationship” with his girlfriend.

But Judge Peter Davies told the defendant: “You can’t keep away from substances; that’s what this is about...

“Fifty-three times you have been before the court for 119 offences – the vast majority of them thefts, coupled with dwelling house burglaries and also several non-dwelling burglaries.

“You target garages and sheds – that’s what you’re about.

“It’s not good enough.”

The judge noted the defendant’s father was unwell and that Highmore had a stable address but added: “It has to be immediate custody. You are a menace and you are a nuisance.”

The offences had been made worse by the defendant’s lengthy criminal history, said the judge.

He jailed Highmore for 48 weeks, adding that if the claim about his father being seriously ill proved not to be true, then the defendant would be brought back to court and his sentence increased. The judge said Highmore’s father did not need his son committing more offences.

Describing Highmore’s offending as ‘preposterous’, the judge added that his father needed care, not his son offending.