A COUNTY thief who broke into an 84-year-old woman’s home and stole a phone and medicine has been jailed.

Christopher Storrie forced his way into the pensioner’s home at Millhill in Musselburgh before taking the mobile, the medication as well as alcohol and packets of biscuits.

Storrie, of Links Avenue, Musselburgh, was then discovered slumped in a stairwell with all the stolen belongings.

Storrie pleaded guilty to three charges, including the break-in, during an appearance at Edinburgh Sheriff Court last Thursday.

Fiscal depute Lorna Ferrier said that the elderly victim had been out and was dropped off by her 62-year-old son at about 8pm on January 12.

The woman then went to bed at about 11pm but when she got up in the morning she noticed glass was strewn across her conservatory floor.

The OAP saw her glass door had been smashed and was said to have been left “distressed” by the break-in.

She called her son to attend at her home and after he arrived they both discovered an outhouse had also been broken into and a set of golf clubs, medication and alcohol had all been taken.

Also found to be missing from the house were a set of keys, a mobile phone and packets of biscuits.

The victim’s son used an iPhone app to track down the stolen phone to an address at Eskside West and Storrie was found later the following day.

Police officers found Storrie “slumped in a stairwell” along with the iPhone, biscuits and medication in the name of the complainer.

He was covered in small cuts to his hands and claimed to police that “I fell through a window so it could not have been me”.

The fiscal added that Storrie, 37, also admitted two breaches of a court curfew banning him from being outwith his home between 7pm and 7am on two occasions.

Defence solicitor Angela Craig said Storrie had suffered from “significant drug problems” and he had been “taking steps to address that” while he had been in prison.

Ms Craig said that Storrie was currently serving a 440-day prison term for an unrelated matter and was due for release in September.

Sheriff Donald Corke told the thief that there had been “no excuse for this type of behaviour” and jailed Storrie for 12 months to run from June 13. The sheriff said three months of the sentence would be attributed to the bail aggravations. He was then admonished on the two curfew breach charges.