A persistent housebreaker who scaled a ladder to burgle the home of the Good Samaritan who had given him shelter has been jailed for 876 days.

Stephen Bennett was sleeping rough and back on drugs when he targeted the property in Malsis Road, Keighley, stealing a bottle of milk from a neighbour’s doorstep afterwards.

Bennett, 41, a “fourth strike” house burglar, pleaded guilty at Bradford Crown Court yesterday to burglary and theft of the milk on November 26.

His solicitor Ash Mahmood said his client had kept out of trouble for seven years. He was the father of two children and became homeless after the breakdown of his relationship.

Judge John Potter said the householder returned home to find a ladder propped against the back of the house. Bennett had climbed through an upstairs window and searched the rooms, breaking a vase and making off with £20 cash in a jar. He stole the milk “for sustenance” from outside the house next door.

Judge Potter said Bennett bore his victim a grudge even though he had given him a home in a time of crisis.

It was an offence committed in breach of trust and out of revenge.