A SERIAL Halesowen burglar has been locked up for 40 months after carrying out his 14th raid on a home in the area.

Karl Pearsall took jewellery when he broke into a house in Windsor Avenue, Howard Searle, prosecuting, told Wolverhampton Crown Court.

But investigating police officers spotted a footprint in the kitchen and that matched a pair of shoes worn by Pearsall whose life had been "blighted by his heroin addiction."

Some of the jewellery which was of great sentimental value was also recovered by the officers from Pearsall's home in Round Hill, Hurst Green.

Mr Searle said Pearsall, aged 32, had used a tool to prise open a window and gain access to the property and the crime had badly affected the victim who afterwards had trouble sleeping.

He went on: "Pearsall is a man who knows how to commit burglaries because he carried out his first offence in 2002."

Simon Williams, for Pearsall, who admitted burglary, said his client wanted help and support to get his life back on the rails to break the pattern of "going in and out of prison."