A YOUNG woman sat crying in the dock as she was sentenced for burgling a house while the tenants were sleeping upstairs.

Jenna Dickinson, 26, whose address is now in Knottingley but who formerly lived in York, Haxby and Tadcaster, appeared at York Crown Court after pleading guilty to burgling the house in Siward Street on January 19 of this year.

She was also jointly charged with Michael Purnell, 43, of Melbourne Street, York, of handling stolen goods. Both pleaded guilty to the offence.

Rob Galley, prosecuting, told the court that on January 19 a student who lived at the Siward Street house, got up at 1am to go to the toilet and spotted Dickinson in a room and raised the alarm.

Police found Dickinson with Purnell near Hull Road a short time later. She gave a false name but police officers later went to Purnell’s address and saw Dickinson through a window. At the property they found items stolen from another home in Heslington Lane the previous day.

Both defendants denied burgling that house and Purnell claimed he was looking after the goods for someone else.

Both defendants have long criminal records, with Purnell’s first crime being recorded in 1982.

Nick Parker, mitigating for Purnell, said many of his client’s offences were drug-related and a prison sentence would undo the good work that was being done.

For Dickinson, Geraldine Kelly said her client was using Valium at the time of the burglary but had since been on a course designed to stop her offending.

However, Judge Ashurst said the offences, which were committed while the defendants were on community orders or suspended sentences for other crimes, were so serious jail was the only option.

Dickinson was jailed for two months for breaching her community order on top of 12 months for the burglary and eight months concurrent for handling stolen goods.

Purnell was told to serve four months of a previous suspended sentence consecutive to eight months for handling stolen goods.

Both defendants will have time spent on an electronic curfew taken into account.

The law states an overnight curfew is classed as the same as half a day on remand in prison. So Purnell, who spent 190 days on a 10pm to 7am curfew, will have 95 days taken off his sentence. Judge Ashurst said: “Even though he is at liberty, Parliament deems fit to see it as being in custody.”