A MAN who turned to crime after his marriage broke down has been jailed for more than a year.

Terry Ford, 35, stole £5,000 worth of items from a house in Pattiswick Square, Basildon.

The haul included trainers, a sound system and sentimental items.

Ford, of Southwark Path, on Basildon’s Craylands estate, also admitted stealing £80 from a Subway store.

He pleaded guilty to one count of attempted burglary at a property in the grounds of the former Basildon Zoo, in London Road, Vange, but left empty handed.

Ford was handed a 43 week jail term plus 12 weeks for breaking a suspended sentence.

Prosecutor Lesley Chipps told Basildon Magistrates Court that Ford and an accomplice had entered the Subway store and asked for a glass of water.

Addressing him, she said: “When the lady went to fetch it, you and the other man reached over the counter and used a screw driver to open the till.

“When she came back, she realised that money had been taken.

She added: “On June 21, you took £5,000 worth of items from a house.

“A lady was at home when she heard a noise at the front door.

“It sounded like someone was trying to force the door.

“You said ‘sorry wrong house’ when she looked out the window.”

Returning from work later that day, the homeowner found her house had been broken into. She identified Ford as the man she had seen earlier.

Mark Pearson, mitigating, said that Ford had turned to drugs, including heroin, after the breakdown of his marriage.

He told the court: “He understands that every time he does drugs, he is destroying his chances of seeing his children.

“These are all serious offences, the most serious being at Pattiswick Square.

“There was no forward planning and he was not equipped - it was not a professional job.”

Mr Pearson added that Ford had been made homeless until an old friend offered him somewhere to sleep on the Craylands estate.

He said: “There are a number of people on Craylands who commit burglaries and Ford was told it was an easy way to get money.

“However, Ford now knows that it is an easy way to prison.

“He is going to use his time in prison to get clean.”