A burglar has been jailed for two years after breaking in through the window of a house and stealing jewellery and cash.

Paul Williams, 40, admitted targeting the home on Oceanside Road, Southampton, when he appeared at Magistrates' Court on Monday.

Senior Crown counsel Carrington Mahoney said the incident happened between 8 a.m. and 9.30 p.m. on November 27 2008 when the occupier was out at work.

She had left the home locked and secured, but arrived home to find the living room window shattered, with broken glass all over the floor.

A ring, earings, ankle bracelet and coins saved up in a vase had been taken, with the stolen goods totalling $863 in value.

The Police were called in, and fingerprints taken from the vase matched those of Williams. The defendant, a self-employed painter from Sandys, was arrested on Court Street on January 16 but denied burglary during an interview.

Senior Magistrate Archibald Warner said Williams had numerous previous convictions including robbery, obstructing the Police and violently resisting arrest.

He was under a two-year suspended sentence for possession of a bladed article in public when he committed the burglary.

Mr. Warner activated the suspended sentence, but allowed Williams to serve it at the same time as the two-year term for the burglary.

In the meantime, he is due to stand trial with another man on February 16 for robbing a woman of a wallet containing $760 by using force.