A 23-year-old man who tried to burgle a care home for the elderly was yesterday jailed for three years.Mohammed Tucker was seen walking in the hallway of Abbeyville residential home in Wellesley Road, Yarmouth, and going into a resident's room in the early hours by a member of staff answering a buzzer call from a resident.

A 23-year-old man who tried to burgle a care home for the elderly was yesterday jailed for three years.

Mohammed Tucker was seen walking in the hallway of Abbeyville residential home in Wellesley Road, Yarmouth, and going into a resident's room in the early hours by a member of staff answering a buzzer call from a resident.

He escaped through a window, leaving fingerprints.

Norwich Crown Court heard Tucker, of no fixed address, had 59 previous convictions on 28 occasions and had previously tried to burgle a retirement home in Exeter.

He admitted trying to burgle on July 15 this year.

Judge Paul Downes told Tucker: “You are still very young but have an appalling record. You have a previous offence similar to this, burgling a place where vulnerable people live. It couldn't be much worse.”

Richard White, prosecuting, said an elderly woman was in bed in the room Tucker entered and was in a state of shock after the experience. She told the staff member: “He's gone through the window.”

Katharine Moore, for Tucker, said he thought it was a guesthouse.

She said Tucker had never known his real father but had grown up with a stepfather who was in and out of prison. He turned to drink and drugs to escape his problems.