A teenager who broke into a house because he believed that cannabis was being kept inside has been jailed.
Luke Mastalerz, of Victoria Close, Berry Brow, was handed a community order by Kirklees magistrates in April for an offence of burglary but breached the order.
The 18-year-old attacked the Lockwood property between February 19 and 22. He took a television and a laptop.
He claimed that he was broke after his benefits were sanctioned and thought that he could sell the drugs on.
Magistrates gave the teen a community order as a direct alternative to custody.
This included 200 hours of unpaid work but he failed to show up for his induction appointments on April 19 and 22.
Mohammed Arif , mitigating, explained that his client had been experiencing problems with several youths in the area. He said that Mastalerz had been on his way to his first appointment with the probation service when he came across the group and fled in fear of them.
District Judge Michael Fanning told the teenager that he had shown no willingness whatsoever to comply with his court order.
He said: “The community will only have faith in these orders if the community knows that they will be rigorously enforced.”
Mastalerz, who had admitted breaching his community order, was jailed for 26 weeks.
