A HOTEL burglar who stole a tourist’s suitcase from her room as she slept has been jailed for three years and six months.

Lee Kenneth Moore, 37, already had convictions for burgling hotels when he walked into The Principal Hotel next to York Railway Station on July 22, 2018.

Prosecuting, Lucy Brown said CCTV filmed him walking out between 11.15pm and 11.30pm wheeling the Chinese visitor’s suitcase with her medication inside. He was trying to disguise it with a duvet.

He had also leapt over the barrier at the entrance to the hotel’s health suite and got away with a bag belonging to a member of staff.

When arrested, he told police he knew where there were no CCTV cameras in the hotel.

He was on a community order, on bail for fraud and subject to probation supervision following an earlier prison sentence.

He had burgled the same hotel in 2013, said Ms Brown.

Moore, of no fixed address, pleaded guilty to two burglaries and was jailed for 42 months at York Crown Court.

For him, Neal Kutte said although he had planned the crimes, they were not sophisticated.

He had a long-standing drug problem.

“He was living on the streets surrounded by people taking drugs and drinking - he was doing the same,” said the solicitor advocate.

Ms Brown said the tourist went to sleep on the evening of July 22.

When she woke up at 8.30am the next morning, she realised her suitcase and some items were missing, though there was no sign of anyone forcing their way into her room.

The suitcase was found by a neighbourhood enforcement officer in the Memorial Gardens off Leeman Road but her medication was no longer inside it.

The bag stolen from the health suite was found in Duncombe Place Memorial Gardens by a police community support officer.

Moore has previous convictions for burgling Hotel 53 and an NHS recovery unit, the court heard.