A TEENAGER from Wilmcote near Alcester turned to selling heroin and crack cocaine while he was on bail for taking part in a night-time burglary at a family’s home.

But Warwick Crown Court heard that Jordan Parsons of Swans Close was caught when he arrived in Leamington with a fresh stock of drugs for sale in the town.

Parsons, aged 19, was sentenced to four-and-a-half years detention after pleading guilty to the burglary and two charges of possessing class A drugs with intent to supply them.

Prosecutor Andrew Wilkins said that in July last year a family’s four-bedroom home in Bishops Close, Warwick, was broken into during the night.

The intruders, who had got in through the conservatory, stole a large number of electrical items including laptop and tablet computers, two i-Phones, an i-Pad and a camera, as well as a handbag, wallet and car keys.

Some of them used the keys to steal a £28,000 Nissan Juke which was later found burned-out in a field near Stratford.

The owner, who discovered the burglary when he got up and saw the car was missing, told the court he had been due to start a new job, for which he had been provided with the car which he had not even had time to drive before it was taken.

But Mr Wilkins pointed out that Parsons’ plea of not guilty to being involved in taking the car had been accepted at an earlier hearing.

Parsons, whose fingerprints were found at the house, was arrested later that month, but was then granted bail.

In December he was seen by police officers as he came down from the platform at Leamington railway station, having just got off a train from Birmingham.

Believing he was acting suspiciously, they detained him – and when he was strip searched he was found to have a clingfilm package in his underpants.

The package contained 41 individual £10 deals of heroin and 43 of crack cocaine.

But despite having concealed it in such a personal place, Parsons, who had no previous convictions, claimed he did not know what was in the package, added Mr Wilkins.

In a statement to the court the burglary victim said that as a result he and his family had had trouble sleeping, and the children were worried about the burglars returning.

He added that he had felt shame at not having been able to protect his family in their own home, and because of the stress he had had to start taking anti-depressant medication again.

Scott Coughtrie, defending, said: “He comes from a small village called Wilmcote, and he moved to Leamington to be with his grandmother.

“The idea was for him to find a job; but what he found were nefarious individuals experienced in criminal activities.

“He found himself associating with these pro-criminal individuals and he went along with the gang, hence his involvement in the burglary.

“The drugs are an evolution of his association with these other characters.

“He did very well at school, and once he had moved to Leamington he had a number of jobs. He would entertain anything to obtain money – and he decided he wanted more because those around him were doing the same thing and had more.”

Mr Coughtrie said Parsons, who was caught as he returned from buying a second batch of drugs in Birmingham, was acting by himself - and there was ‘a delusional aspect’ in his belief that by selling drugs on the street he was ‘helping the vulnerable.’

Parsons was jailed for two-and-a-half years for the burglary, with a consecutive two-year term for the drugs offences.

Recorder Adrian Redgrave QC told him: I hope you listened when it was read out the effect your burglary had upon the people whose home you burgled. It is as serious a way of committing a burglary as exists.

“After you had been arrested and were on bail, you started dealing in heroin and crack cocaine. Following a trial the sentence would have been four years, but I have regard to totality and that it is your first custodial sentence.”