A burglar was caught after an alert schoolboy saw his car parked near the targeted premises.

He gave his parents the registration number and police arrested Robert Parsons, Worcester Crown Court heard on Friday.

Parsons had twice raided the outbuildings of an unoccupied farmhouse near his home in The Uplands, Fromes Hill.

It had been owned by an elderly couple. But one of them had died and the other pensioner was in a nursing home.

Parsons, aged 33, pleaded guilty to two burglaries. He was sentenced to 200 hours community work after being in custody on remand for four months.

The property was up for auction and was being looked after by the owners' family who lived close by, said Williams Rickarby, prosecuting.

The alert was raised after a local boy saw Parsons' car parked by the farm around 8am one morning in October last year.

Recovered by police from the defendant's home were tumble driers, ornaments, candle holders, meat and items of sentimental value.

"Clearly he took advantage of the premises not being permanently occupied," said Mr Rickarby. "The family was not always able to protect it."

Mr Dele Alakija, defending, said the farm had been empty for two years. Parsons went to check it out after seeing a skip in the yard.

He said Parsons had become an alcoholic at 16 and also developed amphetamine and heroin habits.

Parsons had been sentenced to 27 months for burglary and receiving stolen goods in 1998.

Judge Michael Mott branded him "thoroughly dishonest" and said he was lucky to have escaped more custody.