A police dog found a burglar hiding in the cellar of a house in Heckmondwike after a neighbour heard suspicious noises during the night.

Leeds Crown Court heard the couple living at the address in Leeds Old Road were away for the night looking after a relative who was unwell.

Jessica Randell, prosecuting, said in the early hours of July 12 the neighbour called police after hearing banging next door and then seeing a torch light.

An officer attended with his dog at 3.50am and found the front door had been forced open and an untidy search had been made of rooms inside, with drawers and cupboards open and a suitcase on a sofa containing electrical items and devices ready to be taken away.

He shouted a warning he was going to release his dog and when no one replied did so. The dog went into the cellar and at that point Travis Neagle stood up from behind some items and took off the gloves he was wearing dropping them on the floor.

He was searched and in his black Armani man bag a cufflink, two earrings, a ring and some coins were found which had already been stolen by him.

The court heard at the time Neagle was under a two year suspended sentence imposed in April for burglary and theft of a motor vehicle.

Felicity Hemlin, representing Neagle, said he was realistic and expected to go to prison. She told Judge Robin Mairs: “You gave him a chance with a suspended sentence in April and he accepts he hasn’t taken the opportunity given to him.”

“He says he was in a bad place at the time and being single did not have any family support.”

Neagle, 23, of Wood Avenue, Dale Lane Estate, Heckmondwike, admitted the burglary and breaching the suspended sentence.

Jailing him for a total of three years, Judge Mairs said: “You and I met in April of this year. Because of other factors in your background, although the offences then richly deserved an immediate custodial sentence, a house burglary at night when occupiers were present, committed in the company of others followed by the planned stealing of a car, I drew back and gave you a chance.

“But less than three months later in the early hours you were found inside a house while the residents were temporarily away. The police dog found you hiding in the cellar wearing gloves in mid July.”