A CAREER criminal is behind bars again for a burglary he carried out within 48 hours of being freed from prison.

Night-time prowler Wayne Dixon rifled through bedroom drawers as his victim slept just feet away, a court heard.

The terrified woman woke as the 37-year-old put on a bathroom light and she confronted the intruder on her landing.

Dixon fled but left behind a stash of electrical items he had piled up ready to take from the house in Middlesbrough.

A judge heard how he has more than 60 offences on his record and has been sentenced to 17 years in the last two decades.

Dixon, of Deepdale Avenue, Middlesbrough, was yesterday jailed for three-and-a-half years after he admitted burglary.

His lawyer, Peter Wishlade, told Judge Michael Taylor at Teesside Crown Court: "He is now, I suspect, a recidivist."

He said Dixon was "completely out of it" after a drink and drugs binge to celebrate his release from jail last month.

"He has asked me to apologise to the lady and understands she would have been frightened," Mr Wishlade told the court.

"He can't do anything other than admit, and to his credit he does admit it. He doesn't make any excuses for what he did.

"He has asked me not to say too much other than he doesn't remember anything about it. He knows he's going back to prison.

"Since 1996, he has been sentenced to 17 years imprisonment and in recent times he has been out for a matter of hours.

"He had been out for less than 48 hours before the commission of this offence. He has very little recollection of it.

"He had, with friends, been drinking and taking substances. He was completely, as they say, out of it."

Prosecutor Rachel Masters told the court that the victim - a mother-of-one - is now terrified to be at home.

Judge Taylor said: "There was a confrontation and it could have been very serious, indeed. You have an appalling record.

"Mr Wishlade says since the mid-1990s you have hardly spent any time at large. It's going to be a long time before you are again.

"I consider you more than just a nuisance. You are a persistent dishonest man and the sentence is to protect the public from you."