A STUDENT has been warned he is facing jail after he admitted breaking into a property he used to live in and splashing white paint around.

Neil Silcock also stole a toolbox after entering his former rented home in Nelson Road, Worcester. He was caught when his fingerprints were matched to a print left in the white gloss paint, Michael Conry, prosecuting, told Worcester Crown Court. The court was told that Silcock, aged 26, of Washington Street, Worcester, is in his third year at university and was hoping to become a youth worker. He pleaded guilty to one charge of burglary.

He was a tenant at the Nelson Road property from September 2011 until August this year, when he was evicted for not paying his rent. Landlord Robert Piggott had showed “restraint and generosity” and a lot of patience as he had been owed £4,000, Mr Conry said. Silcock had also removed a smoke detector and other items to argue the property was not habitable.

Mr Piggott engaged his brother Thomas Piggott to carry out work on the property after Silcock was evicted. He left the work on September 23 and when he went back on September 27 he found a window smashed and paint “scattered around” on the floor, on the plastic wrapping of a new kitchen worktop and around the kitchen. There were footprints in the paint and a handprint on the fridge which matched the fingerprints taken when Silcock was given a caution in 2012 for criminal damage and being drunk and disorderly.

Paul Trotman, defending, said Silcock had believed the rent was to be paid by the university. On the night of the offence, he had drunk five pints and “a lot of whisky” up to 2am and may have thought he was going back home as he had only recently vacated the property. He said he did not target the property and was so drunk he had no recollection of what had happened. He thought he might have knocked the paint over and had spread it while “stumbling around”.

Judge Abbas Mithani adjourned the case until the week of January 20 for a further pre-sentence report but warned Silcock he could be facing an immediate prison sentence.