A NIGHT burglar arrested on a bus only hours after a raid was jailed for three-and-a-half years.

Howard Shaw, prosecuting at York Crown Court, said Martyn Bell stole jewellery, cash, bank cards and other items from a house in Salisbury Road, off Leeman Road, York, while their owners slept in a nearby room on April 7.

Before they woke, he had used two of the cards to withdraw £750 from two of their bank accounts.

But later the same day, he behaved so suspiciously on a York bus that police stopped and searched him - and found some of the loot from the raid.

Two months earlier, in February, he appeared at York Crown Court for a burglary in St Paul's Mews, York, and six other crimes.

On that occasion, he was allowed to keep his freedom on condition that he did a drug testing and treatment order.

This time, Bell, 23, of Thoresby Road, Acomb, who pleaded guilty to burglary and two thefts committed after the drug order was made, was given no such chance.

Judge John Bullimore revoked the order, sentenced him for all offences and locked him up for three-and-a-half years.

For Bell, Michael Bosomworth said there had been problems with the drug testing and treatment order because Bell did not have a methadone prescription to help with the physical side-effects of kicking his heroin habit.

That meant he had been too ill from "cold turkey" at times to attend counselling sessions and he still needed money to buy heroin.

Updated: 10:23 Monday, August 15, 2005