THREE teenagers tried to break into an adjoining house by hammering and drilling a hole in a wall.

The hapless trio hoped to create a hole big enough in a loft space to climb through in order that they could steal cannabis and CDs.

But Teesside Crown Court heard how after becoming suspicious of banging and noise in the middle of the night the householder went to investigate.

She discovered the damage to the plasterboard that had been caused and – to her shock and upset – saw someone peeping in from next door.

Robert Felgate, 19, accepted being the instigator behind the bungled break-in in Billingham.

He was helped by co-defendant Jordan Coleman, 19, who at the time was staying in the next door property in Flodden Way, his girlfriend’s home.

Both knew the victim and admitted attempted burglary on May 29 this year.

Meanwhile, another man, 18-year-old Joseph Davies, who was described by Judge John Walford as a “reluctant participant”, pleaded guilty to the same charge.

Coleman, of Ashdown Way, Billingham, a full-time carer for his poorly grandmother, already had a four-month suspended jail sentence hanging over him after stealing a laptop in another burglary in October last year.

Prosecutor Rachel Masters said there had been a degree of planning in the attempted burglary which occurred at night while the occupant was at home with her young daughter.

Zoe Pasfield, mitigating for Coleman and Davies, said: “Soon as they knew the person on the other side of the wall knew what they were up to panic set in and they covered their tracks and made no further attempts to enter the house.

“Nothing was stolen.”

Ms Pasfield handed a letter to Judge Walford from Coleman’s grandmother begging him not to “take him away” and described Davies, of Newbury Way, Billingham, as naïve and vulnerable.

Peter Wishlade, for Felgate, of Flodden Way, said it had been a “feeble, amateurish” attempt at a burglary with no possibility of success.

He said: “He is totally ashamed and has let himself and his family down.”

Judge Walford activated the suspended jail sentence on Coleman who will serve nine months in a young offenders’ institution.

He said Felgate deserved custody, but because of a lack of previous convictions he received a six-month detention order, suspended for two years.

Davies was given a two-year community order.