A SOUTHAMPTON man who spent more than two months travelling abroad came home to find his flat had been burgled.

The victim returned to his flat on Earls Road on October 2 last year to discover that someone had entered his bedroom and stolen a laptop.

Forensic enquiries at the scene linked the crime to 30-year-old Joseph Andrews.

When police arrived at his home in Verulam Road, Southampton, on October 28 he tried to escape by climbing onto the roof, damaging tiles and the ceiling of a stairwell in the block.

Andrews was charged with burglary and criminal damage, both of which he admitted when he appeared at Southampton Crown Court. He was jailed for 32 months.

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Detective Sergeant Simon Price, from the Operation Hawk team, said: "Burglary has a huge impact on victims.

"It leaves people feeling incredibly vulnerable in the place where they should feel the most safe of all – their own home.

"The Operation Hawk team is committed to targeting dwelling burglary perpetrators such as Joseph Andrews.

"I hope this prison sentence not only reassures the local community, but provides victims with the confidence to contact police if they’re ever affected by this type of crime."