A MAN has admitted creeping into a student home in Chester during the night and stealing a TV, games console and laptop.

Andrew McDonald, 33, pleaded guilty to burglary when he appeared at Chester Magistrates' Court on Friday (August 25).

Rob Youds, prosecuting, said the occupants of the house on Upper Northgate Street in the city had been upstairs when the defendant broke in.

“They had come back from a night out,” he said. “The burglary took place while they are in the premises upstairs.

“They came down in the morning and realised the items had been stolen.”

CCTV footage showed McDonald skulking in the area shortly before the burglary took place in the early hours of Sunday, August 13, the court heard.

It emerged McDonald had tried to sell the items on to a second-hand electrical goods store soon after.

Police officers executed a warrant at McDonald’s address on Walpole Street, Chester, on Thursday morning and he was arrested.

Mr Youds told the court the defendant has a “lengthy record” of serious offences, the last of which was a conviction for battery in March this year.

The case was considered too serious to be dealt with by magistrates. McDonald will be sentenced by a judge at Chester Crown Court on September 22.