A drug addict who has spent nearly half his life in jail is back behind bars after breaking into a leading private school.

Darren Robertshaw, 37, smashed his way into a student's room at Eastbourne College and stole a wallet containing £60.

He broke into the room in Carlisle Road on February 2 while the 15-year-old boarder was at classes and found the wallet on the boy's desk.

But homeless Robertshaw had been caught on CCTV wandering around the historic campus and when the footage was shown to police they immediately recognised him.

Robertshaw admitted burglary when he appeared at Lewes Crown Court and was sentenced to two-and-a-half years in prison.

The court heard he had 48 previous convictions, including 11 for burglary.

Justin Rivett, defending, said because Robertshaw committed offences due to his drug addiction he had spent 17 of the past 20 years in prison. In the past ten years, he had only spent 11 months at liberty.

He said: "He has spent literally 24 hours a day, seven days a week thinking about drugs."

But he said Robertshaw wanted to combat his addiction.

He asked the judge to consider sending him to a residential drug rehabilitation centre.

Judge Richard Brown told Robertshaw he was jailing him.

He said: "Residential burglary is always a very serious matter. Some people never recover from the trauma of having their homes invaded by people like you."