A burglar who wants his victims to have "peace of mind" has been jailed for three years and four months.

Guy David Osguthorpe, 29, was jailed for a spate of raids resulting in the theft of about £6,700 worth of goods, all committed within weeks of his release from jail from a 30-month sentence for burglary, York Crown Court heard.

Simon Hickey, prosecuting, said that after his latest burglary, his victims found three of their bedrooms ransacked and their French windows smashed so badly they had to be repaired. Property worth nearly £3,000 had been taken.

"He is expecting a custodial sentence," said his barrister, Geraldine Kelly.

"He welcomes it, not only for his own purposes, but also, he says, for the peace of mind of the victims of these offences."

Osguthorpe, of Bramham Avenue, Chapelfields, York, pleaded guilty to a house burglary in Russell Street and asked for four more house raids and a city centre shop break-in to be taken into consideration.

"The house burglary was a determined one, in the evening and although not at night, it was dark and the people were out," said Judge Trevor Kent-Jones.

"You went with a screwdriver. When that failed, you forced a garden shed, got some tools and were then able to force your way into the house."

He ordered him to serve an extra ten months of his previous sentence, plus two-and-a-half years for the latest burglary.

Osguthorpe was released from prison in January and started his crime spree on February 6.

Miss Kelly said that he had intended to keep off the heroin that prompted his crimes when he left prison in January.

But, feeling low because of difficulties with his girlfriend, he had met up again with drug users and been offered heroin for free.

He plans to move to the south coast when he again has his freedom to cut all links with York drug users.