THREE men have been jailed after breaking into a house in Malmesbury to fund their heroin habits. Lee Johnson, Dean Riley and Ronald James were caught as they left the premises with a stolen camera.

A judge at Swindon Crown Court heard that the men would probably have got away with the raid had it not been for two men working nearby who called the police.

Richard Thomas, prosecuting, said Johnson, 40, Riley, 42, and James, 47, had gone on a drive in a Ford Sierra when they decided to burgle a house to get money for drugs.

The owner had left the house on Foundry Road on the morning of November 6.

Mr Thomas said: "At about 4pm two brothers named Barnes were working in a nearby workshop and could see the rear of the property.

"They saw a red Ford pull into a nearby car park with three men in it. In due course they formed the view that they were acting suspiciously.

"They saw them go to the door, break glass and gain entry through the rear door. They then left shortly afterwards.

"The brothers contacted the police and gave a running commentary. The car was stopped and the men being detained."

In the car officers found a camera case with a camera in it which had been taken from the house.

When they were questioned by police all three, who have previous convictions, refused to comment on the crime.

Mr Thomas said Riley, of Scott House, Cheltenham, had made 83 court appearances starting in 1979 with his last offence of burglary in 1988.

Johnson, of Cleveland Square, Cheltenham, has 33 previous convictions starting in 1974 with his last burglary in September 2000. James, of Princess Elizabeth Way, Cheltenham, has 27 previous court appearances, the first being in 1972 and the latest burglary in 1994.

All three men pleaded guilty to burglary when they first appeared before magistrates a few days after the break-in.

George Threlfall, defending, said they were heroin addicts at the time of the offence. They had not planned the offence and were out driving when they decided to break in to a house to steal something to sell to buy drugs.

He said Riley worked as a welder at BMW in Cowley making Mini Coopers.

He could earn about £60,000 a year on the night shift.

Johnson worked as an antiques dealer and James was a capable builder and decorator.

Jailing each man for 15 months, Judge Guy Boney said: "Had you not been seen you would no doubt have got away with the burglary.

"Everybody whose house is disturbed in this way and is burgled goes through some distress.

"You must know, and householders certainly know, that this scourge of funding drug addiction by domestic burglary is one of the curses of our age.

"Courts must stop it."