A pregnant teenager has been locked up for 16 months for stealing a vulnerable autistic man’s iPhone when he was in respite care at her mother’s home.

Kirsty Cleary, 19, would now have her baby behind bars because she had failed to respond to other sentencing options, Judge Jonathan Rose told her.

She admitted theft from the house in Cottingley on May 13 last year.

Cleary, of Valley Road, Shipley, was in breach of a suspended sentence for house burglary in November 2011 and a conditional discharge for stealing her mother’s bank card and withdrawing £300 from her bank account.

Bradford Crown Court heard yesterday that the 19-year-old man with autism was in the living room when Cleary stole his £400 iPhone and charger. She had gone to the house to ask her mother for money but sneaked off with the iPhone, tucking it under her top. She sold it in a street for £100.

The court heard Cleary knew the young man had autism and was vulnerable. The offence was committed just days after she was sentenced to 51 weeks in custody, suspended for two years, for house burglary.

Cleary and her then boyfriend were caught on CCTV entering a house at 1.30am and leaving with a bag of Christmas presents.

The court heard that “disgusting” damage was committed at the property, with eggs thrown round the kitchen, excrement found on a duvet, belts cut up and toiletries sprayed around the bathroom.

It was alleged there was bad feeling between the parties after the woman householder accused Cleary’s boyfriend of ill-treating a puppy.

Cleary’s barrister, Charlotte Eastwood, said the teenager was heavily pregnant with her first child.

Judge Rose said Cleary had “a dreadful record” for such a young woman.

“It was a despicable offence against a vulnerable young man in the care of your mother,” he said.

Judge Rose told Cleary that custody in a young-offender institution was “unavoidable”.