A prolific house raider who struck 11 times in Accrington in a three-month spree has been jailed for a year.

Paranoid schizophrenic Andrew Holden, 24, went round in the dead of night, trying door handles and then invading family homes as his victims slept, Burnley Crown Court was told.

The hearing was told Holden was said to have suffered acute psychotic illness.

A medic reported the offences were probably committed to fund his drug habit and were not related to his ‘abnormal state of mind,’ as he was reasonably well from a mental health point of view.

The medic said custody could possibly lead to a relapse into schizophrenia.

The defendant was said to consider his use of cannabis and amphetamine were not issues of concern as the drugs made him feel normal.

Holden, of Belfield Road, Accrington, had admitted two burglaries between last June and September at an earlier hearing,

He had been committed for sentence by Hyndburn Magistrates. He had asked for nine offences to be considered.

Sentencing, Recorder Fiona Ashworth told him: "It isn’t difficult to imagine the horror with which the occupiers greeted the fact they had been burgled while they were in bed, asleep."

Sarah Statham, prosecuting, told the court Holden struck at Manor Street where a couple and their two year old daughter were asleep.

They got up to find they had been burgled and possessions taken, including electrical equipment, a TV, and a laptop computer.

Some of the haul was later recovered from the defendant’s home.

Miss Statham said on the same night Holden went into a house on Lodge Street and took, amongst other things, a radio and credit cards, some of which were also later recovered at his address.

He was arrested in September and told police he had sold some of the property from Manor Street and couldn’t get it back.

He said he had been in the house once, taken some goods and then went back for some more.

The defendant told officers he had been sober and did it because of money troubles.

He then took police on a tour of the area, pointing out all the houses he had burgled.

The prosecutor said Holden had two previous convictions for five offences.

James Heyworth, defending Holden, said there had been a significant gap between his offending and his current crimes and to a large extent, the current offences were out of character.

He was on medication, was described as ‘pleasant, sociable and co-operative’ by a psychiatric nurse and hoped to get his own accommodation soon.

Holden had gone off the rails in his personal life and committed the burglaries.

The barrister added: "In no way has he tried to evade responsibility for them."