A BURGLAR who repeatedly targeted the home of a disabled pensioner has been jailed.

Daniel Chadburn, of no fixed address, pleaded guilty to three counts of burglary at Warrington Magistrates' Court on September 9.

The 28-year-old also admitted additional charges of theft and resisting arrest.

He was sentenced for the offences at Liverpool Crown Court on Monday, October 7.

He was jailed for three years and four months and ordered to pay a £181 victim surcharge.

On Monday August 19, Cheshire Constabulary received a report of the victim's home on Milton Road being burgled whilst he was sleeping on each of the previous five nights.

On one of those nights he woke up to find Chadburn watching television in the living room.

Chadburn left when asked to do so, but he returned to the house on the night of Monday 2 September to steal cash and cigarettes, again as the victim slept.

Further money went missing from the house on subsequent nights.

In a bid to catch the offender in the act, plain clothes officers were deployed to the victim's home on the night of Friday September, 6.

At both 10.20pm and 10.40pm officers witnessed Chadburn open a window at the address, put his hand inside and then leave.

Later that night, at 3.20am, Chadburn entered the house and officers attempted to apprehend him.

Chadburn resisted arrested and managed to flee the address following a struggle.

He was chased through the streets by police and supporting colleagues.

Chadburn eventually tried to hide behind a car but the officers had never lost sight of him and apprehended the burglar following a second struggle.

When questioned in custody Chadburn claimed that he had stolen from the victim to help pay off a drugs debt.

He originally said that he had only been to the victim’s home on two occasions, including when he was caught by police.

But after hearing all of the evidence against him, including CCTV footage of the three burglary incidents on the night of Friday September 6, Chadburn pleaded guilty to all five offences he was charged with at the first opportunity to do so.

Detective Inspector Ian Whiley, of Widnes Local Policing Unit, said: "Burglary is a serious crime in which victims are targeted in their own home, which is the place they should be able to feel most safe.

"What makes Daniel Chadburn's offending particular deplorable is the fact that he continually targeted an elderly man with health and mobility problems.

"The victim knew Chadburn as a man who pestered him for money and cigarettes.

"But Chadburn was doing a lot more than that – he was burgling his home whilst the victim slept.

"The victim had cash and other items stolen from his home on multiple occasions and I am delighted that Chadburn is now behind bars facing the consequences of his actions.

"I hope that the prison sentence imposed by the courts deters others from committing similar offences and that it gives some closure to the victim and enables him to move forward with his life."