house and taking more than $4,500 worth of jewellery and cash.

Magistrates' Court heard how Smith watched Mrs. Nicholas Ball leave her home in Fairylands Road, Pembroke, and then forced a porch window with a trowel he found.

Police stopped him as he was walking down the road with his haul, said Insp Peter Duffy. "I was trying to get back on my feet,'' he told them. He emptied his pockets and jewellery and cash dropped out.

Smith, 37, who lived with his mother in Pembroke, admitted breaking into the Balls home and possessing a workman's trowel for housebreaking.

Senior Magistrate the Wor. Will Francis told him: "You have spent a lot of time in prison during your lifetime for this very offence.'' Miss Elizabeth Christopher, defending, said Smith was sorry the offence had happened.