A fifteen-year-old boy with a string of previous criminal convictions has been named as the burglar of a Winchester home.

James Kempster broke into the home in Courtenay Road, Abbotts Barton and took mobile phones, cash, credit cards and women's underwear.

He left a trail of devastation in the house as he emptied bags and rifled through drawers, Winchester Crown Court heard yesterday.

Kempster, of Portal Road in Highcliffe, smirked as Judge Jane Bonvin sentenced him.

She told him: "It was a very serious and unpleasant burglary. It caused very much more than mere inconvenience - it caused genuine and real distress.

"You turned the place over and took personal items as well as items that you could have sold to make money."

The court heard that Kempster has previously been convicted of burglary, shoplifting, possessing ecstasy and cannabis and is already the subject of a supervision order.

On Monday Judge Bonvin sentenced him to an 18-hour attendance centre order - meaning he must spend two hours every week at a detention-style centre.

The court heard that Kempster broke into the home on the afternoon of July 10th this year.

Homeowner Mrs Rees returned home at around 5pm when she found the contents of her handbag spilled out over the kitchen table and her drawers emptied.

Prosecutor Rufus Taylor said police stopped Kempster later that afternoon in Winchester High Street and found the stolen money on him.

One of the stolen mobile phones was found on David Rolfe, 21, of Firmstone Road in Winnall.

Yesterday Kempster pleaded guilty to burglary. Rolfe pleaded guilty to receiving stolen goods. Rolfe - who has 17 previous convictions for 43 offences - was out of prison on licence at the time of the offence.

He was yesterday sentenced to nine months in prison and ordered to complete the term of his previous sentence - an extra 90 days in prison.

The court heard that both criminals had difficult childhoods.

Kempster's solicitor claimed that the young boy lived a 'Dickensian' existence in which he grew up on the street and was forced to provide for himself.