A BURGLAR who plundered a couple's home of hundreds of films on DVD worth £12,000 has been jailed for more than two years.

Stuart Cox was on bail for driving while disqualified when he raided the house in Larksfield, Covingham, last month.

The 27-year-old of Station Road, Chiseldon, who has previous convictions for 75 offences, drove an accomplice to the house before the men broke in and stole tens of thousands of pounds worth of equipment, the court heard.

He pleaded guilty to burglary, driving while disqualified and without insurance.

Jailing him for two years and three months Judge John McNaught told him: "You might not have been the leading light in the burglary but you went along to help. It was a serious invasion of someone else's house."

He also banned him from driving for two years.

Jane Warren, prosecuting, told Swindon Crown Court that the householders left their home at lunchtime on February 7 and returned to discover the burglary that evening.

"Their abiding passion seems to be watching films and they have converted part of the downstairs into a home cinema with a lot of expensive equipment and about 600 DVDs," she said.

"They got back to discover the side gate forced and the side door smashed. The home cinema was ransacked."

The burglars took DVD players, amplifiers and surround sound cinema speakers as well as the hundreds of discs each costing £20.

She said a neighbour spotted a car parked outside the house while items were loaded up and took down its registration number.

The following day the vehicle was seen by the police and some of the stolen DVDs were still inside it. Cox was arrested and questioned by officers.

He told them he had not carried out the offence alone but with another man whose idea it was and said that he could recover much of the stolen gear.

She said the next day he went to the police station with most of the equipment and DVDs. The only things not recovered were one remote control and 200 of the discs.

At the time of the offence Cox was on bail after admitting driving while disqualified having been stopped by police on Marlowe Avenue, Swindon, at 7.15pm on December 15.

Chris Smyth, in mitigation, said that while his client had a poor record there had been a lull from 1997 through to October last year, when these offences started.

He said the effort to return what had been stolen illustrated the level of remorse his client showed for the offence. He said that his client had not realised he was going on a burglary when he drove his accomplice to the house.

He added that at the time of the driving while disqualified Cox was in a relationship with a woman who had an alcohol problem and he had to drive her to stop her from doing so.