BURGLAR Brian Beattie has been warned he could face a prison term after he raided a house to pay off a drug debt.

The 28-year-old heroin addict claims he was bundled into the back of a van and threatened by drug dealers because he owed them £1,700. The men told him to rob people as they left cash point machines in Old Town, but he refused.

Beattie then says he was given a hammer and told to break into a house in Old Walcot.

Beattie, who has 78 previous convictions, said the dealers knocked £50 off his drug debt for the items taken from the house in Woodside Avenue.

Richard Thomas, prosecuting, told an earlier hearing that the homeowner found a number of items missing including a £1,500 set of golf clubs, kitchen appliances, a £2,000 Rolex watch, jewellery worth £600, bank cards, a £935 computer which was being returned for repair and £400 cash.

However Beattie, who was caught after a sample of his blood was found at the premises, denied taking anything but bank cards, a phone, a computer and cigarettes.

Beattie, of Grantley Close, Park South, admitted burglary.

Robin Day, defending, said her client had been a heroin addict for 13 years. In April she convinced a judge to defer sentencing because Beattie had been put on probation. And at the latest hearing she told the court that Beattie was now on methadone and attending Narcotics Anonymous.

Judge Tom Longbotham adjourned sentencing for three months but told Beattie: "Woe betide you if you get in any more trouble in the meantime."