A SERIAL housebreaker who raided more than £20,000 worth of jewellery and medals from the home of a recently-bereaved pensioner has been locked up for three years and four months.

Caius Hesling and an accomplice struck overnight at the property in Waterside, Silsden, breaking in through the back door to make off with items of great sentimental value, Bradford Crown Court heard.

Hesling, 29, of Seamer House, Cavendish Road, Idle, Bradford, pleaded guilty to burgling the address between April 24 and 27.

Prosecutor Dave MacKay said the 72-year-old victim of the break-in moved into her home at the end of last year.

She had cared for her husband during his protracted illness and was left “gutted” by the burglary, the court was told.

Hesling’s haul included jewellery associated with her late husband, Mr MacKay said.

The burglars took their loot away in a suitcase and some of the stolen property, including the medals, was found by a member of the public after it was abandoned on the moors above Silsden.

The victim found blood on a set of drawers and Hesling was arrested at a house in Bradford on June 24.

He had 14 previous convictions for 21 offences, dating back to 2005.

Hesling was already a “third strike” house burglar, having received the statutory minimum jail sentence of 896 days in 2015 when he and his accomplices targeted a house in Ripponden while the family was at home.

Mr MacKay said the offence was aggravated by the fact that there was more than one burglar, it was committed at night and there was significant loss of property of great sentimental value.

Hesling’s barrister, Giles Bridge, said his client had made good progress when he was released from prison on licence in November 2016.

He had found a job and moved away from Bradford but returned to the city when things didn’t work out.

On the night of the burglary, he went out to recover a stolen vehicle and decided to burgle the house.

Hesling was remanded in custody to Leeds Prison and realised he would receive a lengthy prison sentence.

The Recorder of Bradford, Judge Jonathan Durham Hall QC, said Hesling had been in trouble many times.

He was already a “third striker” when he committed the unpleasant burglary in Silsden.

Hesling’s problems “paled into insignificance” compared with those his victim had suffered when she arrived home to find she had been burgled of £20,000 worth of property of great sentimental value.