Sentencing has been delayed on a housebreaker with a drug problem.

Puisne Judge Geoffrey Bell put off passing judgment on taxi driver Shannon Dane Somersall so checks could be made to see if he could find room on a Salvation Army drug treatment programme.

Somersall faces up to three years in jail after admitting two counts of housebreaking relating to the theft of $175 from the same property between April 15 and May 17, 2005.

Crown counsel Anthony Blackman said that the defendant had more than 30 previous convictions for dishonesty in the last 20 years.

?The defendant has indicated he has a drug problem but that does not and should not give him a licence to go around this country relieving people of their property,? Mr. Blackman told the Supreme Court hearing.

He said the 39-year-old needed to be in Westgate where he could be monitored and suitable drug treatment could take place.

The prosecutor said that sentences of two-and-a-half years with a period of probation, or three years without probation were suitable.

Peter Farge, defending father-of-three Somersall, said his client had not been in jail for a criminal offence since 2001.

?I know his record is bad over the years, but he has not been incarcerated for four years which, I suggest, shows some improvement,? added the lawyer. Mr. Farge said that there should be room soon for the defendant on the Salvation Army Harbour Lights programme, and asked for the case to be adjourned.

Mr. Justice Bell said the sentencing hearing would resume on May 5. Somersall, of Longridge Pass, Devonshire, was remanded in custody.