A TEENAGE burglar has been jailed for three years for a string of burglaries on elderly people.

John Christopher Eastman, 19, ransacked a 94-year-old woman's bedside cabinet while she slept next to it, Karen Smoult-Hawtree told York Crown Court.

He had also broke into the flat of a woman in her eighties while she was out shopping.

"It is miserable, disgusting offending," Judge Michael Mettyear told Eastman.

"I have to say, my suspicion is you were targeting old people. But there is no clear evidence of targeting, therefore I do not sentence you on that basis."

Eastman, of Linnet Way, Acomb, pleaded guilty to three burglaries.

Miss Smoult-Hawtree said that at about 6pm on February 17, a 94-year-old woman was sitting alone in her Sutton-on-the-Forest sitting room.

Eastman looked through the curtain dividing the room from the kitchen and left. She phoned for help and accomplice Patrick Ward, 37, was arrested at the house.

The victim was terrified for her life and the next day became so ill she needed hospital treatment. Her general health has deteriorated since the raid, said Miss Smoult-Hawtree.

On May 28, Eastman ransacked the bedside cabinet and took drawers from the dressing table of a 94-year-old Acomb woman.

His victim was sleeping in her bed as he stole more than £1,000 of her property.

She has since been so nervous she has difficulty sleeping and often wakes in the night.

Eastman also caused a woman in her eighties to feel insecure in her home by raiding her Acomb flat when she was out shopping. He took a gold chain the woman's husband gave her for their golden wedding anniversary.

For Eastman, Nicholas Clark said his client stole to fund a heroin habit. But since being remanded in custody in June, he was drug-free and he was now aware of the effect of his crimes on the victims.

Ward had been the instigator of the Sutton-on-the-Forest raid and Eastman had not known it was a pensioner's house until he looked inside.

Ward was jailed at Teesside Crown Court for four years for that burglary and other offences, York Crown Court heard.

Updated: 11:55 Friday, January 18, 2002