James Blease bailed to down the road from where he allegedly committed burglary

A man who allegedly burgled a neighbour’s home has been freed from custody to go home to his mum, despite fears he is “going off the rails again”.

James Blease applied for bail after an alleged burglary.

A Cowes man has been bailed back to his mum’s house, despite it being less than 100m from the house he allegedly burgled while he was left alone last week.

James Blease appeared in Wonthaggi Magistrates Court to continue his application for bail on Tuesday morning.

Blease, 31, was taken into custody on Saturday after police allegedly found stolen goods at his Cowes address.

Police are alleging Blease broke into a Cowes home, about 100m away from his own home, last Friday.

The court heard he allegedly went around the side of the house, switched off the power to disable the CCTV cameras and forced open a side window to get into the property.

He allegedly took two laptops and a backpack from an office before rifling through bedroom drawers and cupboards.

The court heard he allegedly snatched up jewellery and smart watches from the bedroom before lugging all of the allegedly stolen property back to his own home.

Police executed a search warrant at his home on Saturday, where they allegedly found the two laptops, empty jewellery boxes and a sum of cash and he was taken into custody.

At the time of the alleged burglary Blease was on three counts of bail.

Defence lawyer Elise Anselma submitted on Monday that her client should be granted bail due to exceptional circumstances.

She submitted his behaviour was “fuelled by a long standing drug addiction” and said he would be “vulnerable” in custody.

She also submitted Blease could return home to live with his mother if released, but she was currently on holidays in Queensland.

The magistrate said she was “very concerned” about releasing him without having heard from his mother and due to her being interstate.

“It is a recipe for setting your client up to breach bail,” she said.

The court heard the alleged burglary victims were “terrified” and “scared of him [Blease] getting bail”.

The bail application on Tuesday continued with Blease’s mother in court. She had only just returned from holiday in Queensland.

She said the pair had a “good relationship” but she suspected Blease was “going off the rails again” a few weeks ago before she left for her holiday.

“He doesn’t make the right decisions sometimes,” she told the court.

The Magistrate said she was concerned about his offending but ultimately granted his bail.

“I can’t make this any clearer,” she said.

“This is your last opportunity.”