IPSWICH: A serial burglar who failed to own up to a break-in when sentenced to 12 months in prison, is serving a further 30-month jail term.

Billy Swaley Smith hoped he would get away with the burglary in Warrington Road, Ipswich, when he was imprisoned for 21 months at Norwich Crown Court in November last year for two other break-ins.

However, Ipswich Crown Court heard the 21-year-old was summonsed to court from prison a few days later to face a charge of burglary at the home of an Ipswich woman.

Smith, who was living in the Bramford area at the time of the break-in, entered the house in Warrington Road on the night of May 20 last year.

When the owner came downstairs she found the French door in the kitchen open.

A Filofax, a wallet and a laptop were discarded on the grass near her shed. The contents of her handbag were strewn over the garden, while her bag was on the patio.

The keys to her BMW 320 were also taken, along with the car.

The vehicle was subsequently found in Gippingstone Road, Bramford, near where Smith was living at the time.

Prosecutor Patricia Doggett told the court Smith had previous convictions for burglary and taking vehicles without consent.

He was sentenced at Norwich Crown Court in 2005 for seven non-dwelling burglaries and seven thefts of vehicles.

Smith then appeared before Cambridge magistrates in March last year and was fined for criminal damage.

He then came before Norwich magistrates last June for taking a car without consent, aggravated vehicle taking, theft, handling stolen goods, resisting arrest and attempting to burgle.

Smith was given a 12-month prison sentence on that occasion.

Judge John Holt said Smith had an opportunity at his crown court sentencing in November last year to have the Warrington Road burglary taken into consideration.

The judge told Smith he believed the 21-year-old did not mention the break-in because he thought he had got away with it.

Smith, who absconded from Hollesley Bay open prison in June 2008 before handing himself back in, was sentenced to 30 months for the burglary. He received a further four months imprisonment for stealing the BMW. The sentences are to run concurrently with the 21-month sentence he was given at Norwich in November.