A 23-YEAR-OLD man made off with his grandparents' savings after breaking open a cash box in their bedroom safe, Bradford Crown Court heard on Thursday.

Neil Greenwood's grandmother said she still loved him, although his actions 'beggared belief'.

"I feel betrayed, angry and heartbroken," she wrote in a victim personal statement read out at the sentencing hearing.

Greenwood, of High Hartley Street, Glusburn, pleaded guilty to burgling the home of his grandparents, who are in their 70s, between May 16 and June 24, and stealing £510 in cash, a laptop computer, digital camera and a computer tablet.

Prosecutor Charlotte Eastwood said the elderly couple were certain that up to £2,500 had been stolen from their safe but Greenwood insisted it was slightly more than £500.

Miss Eastwood said his grandmother discovered the theft when she saw the cash box had been broken into.

The couple, who asked not to be named in court, live in Cross Hills.

Greenwood was arrested when his fingerprints were found on an envelope that had contained banknotes.

He admitted to police he went into his grandparents' bedroom to look for things to steal and sell. He said he was being blackmailed and needed money.

Miss Eastwood said Greenwood deliberately targeted his vulnerable and elderly grandparents.

Abigail Langford, Greenwood's barrister, conceded that it was "an extremely mean offence".

She said he worked at Poundland and would be able to pay back the money he had taken.

Judge Roger Thomas QC sentenced Greenwood to 12-month imprisonment, suspended for two years, with supervision.

He was ordered to pay his grandparents £1,250 compensation.