A 24-YEAR-OLD Gloucester man was convicted of breaking into his ex-girlfriend's Dursley home, logging into her computer and stealing a USB memory stick.

Nightclub barmaid Emma Miles discovered the raid when she arrived home to find her terraced house in Rosebery Road had been entered and searched but did not notice at first that anything was missing, Gloucester Crown Court heard on Friday, February 20.

Later, when she went onto her computer, she realised that someone had logged in and looked at some of her personal and family photographs, Caighli Taylor, prosecuting, told the court.

She said mum of two Ms Miles then realised that a USB stick a neighbour had given her a day or two earlier was missing.

That led her to suspect that ex partner Donald Tomlinson, the father of her younger child, was the culprit, said Ms Taylor. He was the only person other than herself who knew her computer password, alleged the prosecutor.

Mr Tomlinson of Midland Road, Gloucester, pleaded not guilty to burgling Ms Miles' home while she was away between October 3 and 6, 2013. But a jury convicted him and he was bailed until March 25 for a pre-sentence report.

In evidence Ms Miles said she was working on the night of Friday, October 4, and she had left her children at her mother's home.

She did not return to her house till the next night and she was alerted that something was wrong because the hall light was off - and she knew she had left it on.

Sheets had been pulled off her bed, laundry was all over the floor and a box of personal items had been opened and rifled through, she said.

She told the jury she rang Mr Tomlinson and asked him if he was responsible and he denied it. She said she would call the police but he told her to go to work that night and then call on him so they could discuss what to do.

Ms Miles said she decided not to see him and went home - and when she logged into her computer she realised it had been accessed at 6.30am on the previous morning

"I noticed my USB stick was not there and that a file of photographs was open," she said. "Donald and I are the only people with the computer password.

At that stage she called the police, she said.

Cross examined by Robert Morgan-Jones, defending, she said her computer always had to have a password entered even if it had been left on standby in 'sleep mode.'

Mr Morgan-Jones asked her if she was familiar with a local criminal gang known as OPM - Other Peoples' Money.

She said she did know of the gang and Mr Tomlinson had spoken to her about it in the past.

"Did he talk about OPM during your telephone call about the burglary," asked Mr Morgan-Jones. She said he did not.

"Are you aware of any connection with anyone who works at the night club where you work with OPM?" the barrister asked. "Yes," she replied.

"Do you think it might be possible that OPM had something to do with the break-in at your home?" asked Mr Morgan-Jones. "No," she said.

In evidence Tomlinson said the USB stick had been put through his letterbox in a brown envelope and he suspected it may have come from an OPM member to draw attention to the security at Ms Miles' home.

Bailing Tomlinson, Recorder Adrian Palmer QC told him he must not contact Ms Miles or go near her home pending sentence.