A “chavy-looking” intruder caught aggressively trying a house door handle at dead of night has been jailed for 14 months.

Wayne Pearson, who has144 offences on his record, was arrested after screenshots of him were published on Facebook as he crept about, Bradford Crown Court heard today.

Pearson, 40, pleaded guilty to attempting to burgle an address in Rockcliffe Avenue, Baildon, at 2.30am on March 24.

Prosecutor Paul Nicholson said that a couple were sleeping at the house when their dogs began barking in the early hours.

Pearson was caught on CCTV “aggressively” trying a door handle at the property while another man looked on.

The woman occupier described the males as “chavy,” saying that the one later identified as Pearson had either a torch or a cigarette in his mouth.

She took screenshots from the CCTV footage and put them on Facebook in a bid to trace the intruder.

Pearson was recognised and the police discovered that he was wanted on recall to prison.

Mr Nicholson said he was arrested at a flat in a former hotel in Allerton Road, Bradford, where he was living at the time.

Pearson had 62 previous convictions for 144 offences, including 87 thefts. His record, stretching back to 1995, included robbery, shoplifting, burglary, and aggravated vehicle taking.

Pearson’s solicitor advocate, Saf Salam, said he had been remanded in custody since April 11.

He at first pleaded not guilty to the offence and a trial was fixed for a date next February.

Pearson, who was sentenced on a video link to Leeds Prison, then decided to admit the charge.

Mr Salam said he owned up even though the CCTV footage from that night had been wiped so he was unable to view it.

Pearson had a history of committing acquisitive offences to fund a class A drug addiction but he had only three offences of burglary on his record.

Since he had been held in custody, he had become drug free and he hoped to continue the good work when he was released from prison.

Mr Salam asked the court to bear in mind that it was an attempted burglary and not the full offence.

Judge Colin Burn said that Pearson was out at night with someone else when he made an “aggressive and persistent” attempt to break into the house but failed to get in.

After he received his sentence, Pearson said: “Thank you, Your Honour; nice one, yeah.”