A Malton hairdresser's quick actions led to a repeat burglar being locked up for 15 months.

York Crown Court heard that Malcolm Kenneth Readman, 19, had been released from a 33-month jail sentence for burglary and other offences less than six months before he tried to raid The Cutting Room salon in Malton.

But a hairdresser spotted him with her handbag in a staff area and gave chase, said Jodie Beveridge, prosecuting.

Although Readman escaped, he dropped the handbag and the woman gave his description to police. He was arrested shortly afterwards in Norton.

Readman, of Howbeck Road, Guisborough, pleaded guilty to burglary, theft of 26 tablets from a police surgeon in a police station, failure to go to court and driving without a licence and without insurance.

He asked for two more burglaries, including one at Kirkbymoorside, and handling a stolen car, to be taken into consideration.

Sending him to a young offender institution for 15 months, Judge David Bentley QC said: "A custodial sentence is inevitable for someone who offends as quickly as this after release".

Miss Beveridge said Readman was arrested in Redcar on a warrant after he failed to attend Scarborough Magistrates Court in June.

In a police cell, he asked to see a doctor and stole 26 tablets used to help drug addicts cope with withdrawal symptoms.

For Readman, Paul Newcombe said his offending was heroin-linked. He had tried to keep off the drug after his release from prison earlier this year, but "old friends came knocking" and he started using it again.