string of break-ins last Christmas will stay behind bars.

Charles Ebbin, 40, was jailed in January this year after breaking into 25 buildings in December last year.

Ebbin's attorney, Elizabeth Christopher, asked the Court of Appeal to consider putting Ebbin on probation. She told the court it was obvious the trial judge was simply trying to "warehouse'' Ebbin when he imposed the sentence of incarceration.

Ms Christopher outlined how Ebbin had been in prison almost all of his life and that simply incarcerating him again would not "break the pattern'' of offending, incarceration then re-offending.

She told the court that Ebbin had a dual diagnosis of schizophrenia and drug addiction and that "what he needs is treatment''.

But the Court of Appeal pointed out that a medical report indicated that Ebbin did not commit the burglaries because he was schizophrenic, but because he needed the cash to buy drugs.

Ms Christopher said the court should not refuse to consider alternative sentencing options just because there was no connection between his psychological condition and his offending.

But the court asked: "What control could a probation officer impose?'' The judges also said Ebbin had been offered every kind of treatment in the past and continued to offend. The only course available to a court was to put him in a "controlled environment'' where he could not succumb to the temptation of drugs.

Ms Christopher suggested that it would be more appropriate to make a hospital order sending Ebbin to St. Brendan's Hospital where he could get better treatment than was available at Westgate Correctional Facility.

She added that a new medical report should be ordered outlining treatment options.

However, Crown counsel Brian Calhoun said the best treatment facilities were available at Westgate. As Ebbin had indicated that peer pressure had led him to indulge his drug habit, the only option was to separate Ebbin from his peers by incarcerating him, Mr. Calhoun argued.

The Court of Appeal judges added that so far Ebbin had demonstrated no desire for rehabilitation and they therefore refused to grant leave to Ebbin to appeal his sentence.