A HEROIN addict who knocked at hundreds of houses begging for cash around Colchester has been jailed after burgling one of the them.

Infamous Kelly Chater was sent back to prison again after appearing at Ipswich Crown Court on Friday.

She asked for a longer sentence to try and beat her class A addiction behind bars.

Chater was begging door-to-door in Dilbridge Road East, Colchester, claiming she needed money for electricity to power a nebuliser for a sick child when she actually wanted money for drugs.

Matthew Sorel-Cameron, prosecuting, said: “The victim arrived at her friend’s at about 2.30pm and spent four hours there.

“It was hot and the door was left open.

“Her handbag was in the hall just inside the front door.”

Chater, 34, of Chapel Street North, Colchester, arrived at the house and took the opportunity to get in and take the handbag with about £800 worth of items, including a phone, bank card and pin number inside.

Fortunately the card was cancelled quickly but not before Chater used it eight times.

She admitted one count of burglary and eight counts of fraud by false representation.

Attempts to take out cash failed.

The transactions ranged from 99p to £5.52 and totalled about £23.

David Wilson, mitigating, said: “From a relatively early age she has embarked on a course of drug use.

“As far as these offences are concerned she was in need of heroin.

“She was door knocking asking for money. The door was open. She saw the handbag. It was opportunistic.”

Chater suffers from mental health problems and asked for more time in prison to get off drugs.

The mother-of-one now has 18 convictions for 53 offences, mostly for dishonesty.

Judge David Goodin, sentencing her for the offences committed, on September 12, said: “I cannot up the sentence to give you a bit longer because it is good for you.

“Burgling people’s houses is an invasion of their personal space and can have a terrible impact. People don’t feel safe in their own homes.”

He sentenced her to nine months in jail for burglary and three months for the fraud counts, to be served concurrently.

Chater has already spent several weeks in custody since being remanded into custody in November.

She will serve half of her sentence in prison and remain on licence for a year.