A burglar left his next door neighbour feeling unsafe in her own home after breaking into her house while she visited her boyfriend and stole clothes, handbags and shoes.
Timothy Mares smashed his way into the woman's property on Knightside Gardens, Dunston , after she left it locked for a week between January and February this year.
But he was caught out after leaving blood at the scene which gave police a DNA match to him.
The 38-year-old claimed he was intimidated into burgling the property by two associates who had been living with him for three weeks and were "exploiting" him.
Drug dealing pensioner jailed for more than two years for selling heroin from her home
Newcastle Crown Court heard the two fellow burglars stole the neighbour's TV and sold it to buy drugs.
Although agreeing that Mares was a "vulnerable person" who was "liable to being exploited", a judge sentenced him to more than 10 months behind bars after hearing he had been dealt with "leniently" by magistrates for another burglary just two weeks before this offence.
Prosecutor Stuart Graham told the court that the victim left her house secure on January 29 and went to visit her boyfriend.
Police puppies forced to retire after horror smash caused by road menace who seriously injured PC
He said: "The only person who knew she was away was the defendant, who was living next door.
"When [the victim] returned to the premises on February 6 she saw her bedroom window had been smashed and there was blood on the doorway."
She found her TV had been stolen from the living room and handbags, clothing and shoes had been taken from the bedroom, the court heard.
Police later found various items, including high heeled suede boots and ladies' jackets, at the defendant's property, which the victim identified as hers.
Man accused of murdering his brother Damian Banks in Durham appears in court
The court heard Mares claimed two people had been living with him for the previous three weeks and had intimidated him.
He said one of them "smashed the window and pushed him through it", before buying drugs with the profits from the victim's TV.
The woman said in a victim impact statement that she had been left "upset and distressed" by the burglary and "no longer felt safe in her house".
The court heard at the time of the offence Mares was subject to a community order imposed by magistrates for another burglary.
Jealous husband spat in his estranged wife's face when she refused to kiss him on Christmas Day
Fiona Lamb, defending, said: "This is clearly a case where the defendant has genuinely been exploited by others.
"For a long time he has been abused and manipulated by a number of people.
"None of this is an excuse, but it does show an explanation for why he acted that way that night."
Recorder Simon Goldberg sentenced Mares to 10-and-a-half months behind bars.
He told the defendant: "You pleaded guilty on the basis which I accept - that two people who had been living with you for the previous three weeks had been intimidating you.
"You are a vulnerable person, liable to being exploited."
But he added: "I am not able to suspend this custodial sentence.
"I'm afraid to say someone who, having been dealt with leniently by magistrates by way of a community order who goes out two weeks later and commits precisely the same offence, can't expect to be indulged on a second occasion."
Teen threatened mum with a knife and hit her with a photo frame after she refused him a cigarette
Spice addict stole family's life savings and wedding jewellery while on two-month burgling spree
