A BUNGLING burglar who crashed into a police car while attempting to make his getaway on a stolen bike is behind bars today.

Adrian Mills was sentenced to 40 months imprisonment by Ipswich Crown Court after admitting breaking into a house in Briarhayes Close, Ipswich.

The 30-year-old, of Woods Lane, Melton, was in collision with the police car after trying to pedal his way out of trouble while being pursued by officers.

Mills, who has previous convictions for burglary, had only managed to steal a memory card and a relatively small sum of money from a detached house before being disturbed by the homeowner.

Grabbing a pushbike Mills then tried to evade the law, who were called by the occupant.

An officer saw a man matching the description of the suspect riding a bicycle out of Oak Hill, across Belstead Road and into Ancaster Road.

Mills tried to cycle away at speed, but only succeeded with colliding with another officer’s car in Ancaster Road.

The memory card and around �50 were found on Mills, who was unhurt in the crash.

The incident happened at around 2.10pm on July 19.

Just two years before the burglary Mills had been sentenced to serve four years in prison for another break-in at the home of a 75-year-old woman.

One that occasion he smashed a window in a patio door at her home in Hall Farm Road, Melton, and stole cash and jewellery worth �100, Ipswich Crown Court heard in May 2010.

The burglary was discovered when the pensioner’s daughter took her home from hospital in February 2010.

In a victim impact statement read to the court, the pensioner said: “I don’t think I will ever fully get over what happened.”

Mills admitted burglary and shoplifting and being in breach of a 39-week prison sentence suspended for 12 months for being concerned in the supply of class A drugs.

The court head Mills committed the burglary shortly after being released on bail by police following his arrest for shoplifting in Woodbridge.

At the time Neil Saunders, mitigating, said his client was drunk at the time of the Melton burglary and his offending was linked to a drug problem for which Mills was motivated to get help.