A SERIAL thief from Laverstock has been sentenced to 18 months behind bars for a number of burglaries and thefts from people who had employed him as a painter and decorator.

Mark Stuart Haldane, 40, from Napier Crescent pleaded guilty to five charges at Salisbury Crown Court at an earlier hearing.

Over the course of several years, Haldane had been stealing items such as mobile phones, jewellery and electrical items from the homes of people who trusted him in order to fund his spiralling drink problem.

He was caught when a woman reported her suspicions to the police and he was arrested.