A SERIAL burglar who stole a wallet from a house in Ilkley and used a stolen credit card in a shop just around the corner has been jailed for four years.

Daniel McLoughlin, 44, broke into the property on Leeds Road at around 7.30am on February 4, disturbing the occupants, Martin Moran and his wife.

Mr Moran had heard footsteps and gone downstairs to find a door open and his wallet taken from a kitchen worktop.

Prosecutor Jonathan Sharp said that six minutes after the theft, McLoughlin used Mr Moran’s Barclaycard to buy £13.80 worth of goods at the Co-op store on Brook Street.

He went back at 7.45am to use the card on a second occasion, but it was declined.

He was identified by CCTV footage from the shop, and arrested on February 22.

Mr Sharp said McLoughlin, of Mornington Street, Ilkley, had a long criminal history, with 28 previous convictions for 68 offences, including three jail sentences for burglary, most recently a four-year jail term imposed in April 2012.

He pleaded guilty to burglary and fraud by false representation at Bradford Crown Court yesterday.

Ashok Khullar, for McLoughlin, said his client was a lifelong drug addict who accepted he had “nothing to show for his life.”

Judge Jonathan Rose told McLoughlin he had an “appalling” record.

He said: “The public no longer cares whether you waste your life or not. They do care about being safe in their own homes, those homes which you have violated in the past.

“You have made life choices to intrude on the homes of decent people, and for that, the only place for you is prison.

“The choice that this court takes is to protect the public from you.”