A CALLOUS career burglar who stole charity cash during a South Lakeland petrol station break-in has been jailed for four years.

Leslie Rawstron, 43, forced his way into Kirkby Lonsdale Motors on the A65 during the early hours of Christmas Eve.

He left with £2,000 worth of cigarettes in two bin liners and also took money from four charity boxes.

Having admitted the break-in, along with possession of cannabis and two motoring offences, he was sentenced at Carlisle Crown Court today.

Handing down the sentence, Judge Davies told the burglar he had targeted a premises to which the cigarettes had been delivered the previous day.

Judge Davies said Rawstron, of Birch Hall Avenue, Darwen, had indulged in a "career of burglary" and was "an "habitually dishonest man".

The judge added: "The harm of stealing from charities, even if the money was recovered, is of great public concern."