A BURGLAR who ransacked a church held a rosary and crossed himself as he asked a Swindon judge to spare him from jail.

Kyle Brace, 25, tried to sell a candlestick and crucifix stolen from St Aldhelm’s Church, Malmesbury, to a town shopkeeper together with a candelabra and ceremonial sword taken from the Masonic Hall.

Swindon Crown Court heard he had broken into the Catholic church on the evening of January 20 through the main door, which had been left unlocked.

The chairman of the pastoral council came to the church the next morning and found it in disarray.

Prosecutor Caighli Taylor said: “Items donated to the food bank had been thrown on the floor or had gone missing. Various items in the church had been strewn, including a crucifix and candles.”

Later that day between 11am and 12pm, Brace stole a jacket containing a phone and car keys from the Malmesbury Abbey café.

At 12.30pm a woman returned to her office – in a shed near her home, which was being renovated - to find Brace using a pickaxe handle to try and smash his way in.

“She could hear banging coming from the direction of the shed,” Ms Taylor said.

“He said his name was Jonathan and he was trying to get into the shed. She told him to leave.”

Brace had picked up the pickaxe handle from the site of the house renovation. The wooden tool had damaged the shed office windows and doors.

Police found the young man nearby. He was searched and found to have a Stanley knife blade.

Brace, of Athelstan Road, Malmesbury, pleaded guilty to two counts of burglary, attempted burglary, theft and possession of a bladed article.

Lucy Morell, defending, said her client had no memory of the spree – having swallowed a cocktail of booze and Valium.

She acknowledged her client had a poor record, with 28 convictions for 59 offences, including burglary, theft and robbery. Brace described himself as the black sheep of the family.

His offending was linked to substance abuse prompted by childhood trauma. As a child in south Wales he had seen his father regularly beat his mother and sister. On one occasion his father had crawled into the family home through a broken window and tried to kidnap Brace, then five-years-old.

After a previous prison sentence he had resolved to turn his life around, had got a job and trained as a mentor for a charity that supports newly-released prisoners.

When he was recalled to prison by the probation service as a result of “communication problems” he lost his job and things spiralled. He binged on drink and drugs then committed what he said was “the biggest mistake of his life”.

Ms Morell said her client was remorseful.

Recorder Adam Feest QC sentenced Brace to 40 weeks’ imprisonment suspended for two years. He must do 120 hours of unpaid work, a thinking skills programme and 20 rehabilitation activity days. He said: “No one would criticise me if I sent you to prison today, but I’m not going to. I’m going to give you a chance.”

Brace held a rosary and crossed himself as he appeared before the court via video link from HMP Bullingdon.