Burglar caught four years after he stole £10,000 haul of jewellery

Borisas Tarakanovas and fellow countryman Rysardas Osipovicius, aged 41, were arrested after failing to break in to a semi-detached property in Rough Hay Road, Darlaston.

The woman who lived there returned home at lunchtime on March 9 to find the pair trying to open the kitchen window with crowbars, the court was told.

Mr Alex Warren, prosecuting, said: "She heard the sound of banging on entering the house and saw them in the back garden when she walked into the kitchen. She shouted at the pair and they ran off."

A neighbour chased after the pair as police were alerted. Officers arrested the two men in a nearby road after Tarakanovas discarded a rucksack as they approached. It contained a crowbar, screwdriver and walkie talkie.

A DNA swob given by the 39-year-old matched blood left during the burglary of a four bedroom house at Woodford in Essex on November 26, 2011.

He fled with jewellery and watches valued at £10,000.

Mr Brij Chaudhry, defending both men who were of no fixed address, said they had come to this country with a promise of a job and place to live but arrived to find these hopes dashed.

He concluded: "They were left high and dry without fixed accommodation and with little or no money – although that is no justification for what they did."

Both men admitted the Darlaston attempted burglary while Tarakanovas also pleaded guilty to the earlier burglary. He was jailed for a total of three years while university graduate Osipovicius received a 16-month sentence.

Judge John Warner said of the Darlaston offence: "It was an extremely unpleasant experience for the occupier who returned home to find you trying to get in."