A man who burgled four oxford houses to feed his drug addiction has been sent to prison for 21 months.

Kandoor Milnyali, 37, of Drove Acre Road, Cowley, admitted breaking into a house in Essex Street last December when he appeared before Oxford magistrates last month.

When he appeared at Oxford Crown Court yesterday to be sentenced, he also asked for four other offences to be taken into consideration, including three burglaries in Cowley, and receiving stolen goods.

Matthew Walsh, prosecuting, said the Essex Street raid happened between Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve last year when the occupiers were away. An ntl digi-box and passport were stolen, worth £200 in total.

Milnyali was caught after fingerprints at the house matched his.

The offences Milnyali asked to be taken into consideration were committed between last December and February.

Paul Mitchell, defending, said Libyan-born Milnyali, who came to the UK in I995, had developed an alcohol problem, and two years ago started to use drugs when he moved into a shared flat in Blackbird Leys.

He started committing crimes after spending his savings on heroin and cocaine and losing his job.

"He is someone who came to Europe with hopes of a new life and ended up in a flat in Blackbird Leys where he was introduced to drugs, and everything went wrong," he said.

Jailing Milnyali, Judge Anthony King said he would recommend to the Home Office that he should be deported once he had served his sentence.