A burglar has been jailed for three years after breaking into a block of flats.

Derek Bilsby, 51, stole a purse and a wallet from a woman’s flat in St Helens Crescent, Hastings, on March 11.

The victim had returned from using the communal laundry when she discovered a man standing in the doorway to her flat.

She went to check her bedroom and found her purse and wallet containing her bank cards had been stolen.

Bilsby, of Sandy Close, St Leonards, was jailed at Lewes Crown Court and ordered to pay a £120 victim surcharge.

Following the case Detective Sergeant Jason Tuck said: "It is mainly retired people who live in these flats.

“The woman was not the only victim in that block, other residents were frightened when they heard what had happened to their neighbour.

“We have devoted a lot of time to reassuring the residents of the flats to make them feel safer and advise them on their security.

"Bilsby is now in prison and cannot continue with opportunistic thefts of people's property. This is the best reassurance I can offer to local residents that justice has been done."