A BURGLAR who disturbed residents when he broke into their padlocked shed and stole �1,000 worth of tools has been jailed for three months.

A woman was awoken by the sound of the break in, and ran downstairs in an attempt to catch the thief, but Gerardas Barakayskas had made his get away, Fenland magistrates were told.

But he left his finger prints on the shed door, and when arrested Barakayskas admitted he had hidden five stolen drills, a grinder and a portable saw under a nearby hedge.

At Wisbech courthouse, the 34-year-old homeless man admitted committing the burglary in Henson Road at March on October 16.

Two locked gates lead into the garden of the property, and the shed was bolted and locked at the time of the burglary, said prosecutor Andrea Fawcett.

A woman resident had been in bed around 11.33pm when awoken by a loud bang coming from the side of her property.

“She ran downstairs and out of the front door, but saw no one,” added Ms Fawcett. “Her partner went into the rear garden and found the double gates to the garden had been forced, , and so had the shed doors.”

When arrested, Barakayskas said he had been short of money, and intended to sell the stolen property.

He had hidden the stolen tools under bushes, but had not returned to pick them up.

Mitigating, solicitor John Clarke said: “He cannot remember much about what he did; he was short of money, and the offence was unsophisticated.

Presiding magistrate Susan Morris told Barakayskas: “You disturbed residents late at night, they had no idea what or who they were going to find.”