his appeal rejected.

Lincoln Christopher, 29, was jailed last December after pleading guilty to raiding a house in St. David's earlier in the year. The crime netted him and an accomplice $10,000 in cash and jewellery.

In the Court of Appeal yesterday Christopher, who represented himself, said that, if given probation, he would be able to receive more extensive treatment for his drug addiction.

"I tried to get help at Addiction Services and I was denied help and medication,'' Christopher said.

"The Government could not assist me. In prison it's just a six week programme and I'll be finished that in June -- what else is there for me to do up there? "Six weeks is not enough and on probation I would go to the drug programme more often.

"I think that 27 months for a first offence is a little too harsh and excessive. I need your help and jail is not going to do me any good.'' Christopher, who has a string of convictions for other offences dating back to 1985, also suggested that the court should be more lenient on him because, he claims, the victim of the break-in was also a criminal, not an innocent member of the public.

And he also cited another case where a defendant, convicted of several break-ins, received a lesser sentence.

But Court of Appeal President Sir James Astwood rejected Christopher's claims, saying that it was not the court's responsibility to set rehabilitation programmes.

"That doesn't really concern us, it's a question for the prison services,'' he said.