TWO burglars who tiptoed around a sleeping woman in her home before driving off in her car were each jailed for five years yeserday.

Freda Din fell asleep on the sofa watching TV and woke at 3am to discover her handbag and laptop computer were missing and her black Mercedes taken from the drive.

Her kitchen window was open and cupboards had been searched, said Martina Connolly, prosecuting at Teesside Crown Court.

Hours earlier, Miss Din had answered a knock at the door of her home in Thornaby and turned away two men who said they were collecting for charity.

Later, a police officer saw a black car parked without lights in Northallerton Road, Thornaby, with two men inside, one of whom he recognised as James Johnson.

When the burglary was reported, officers went to Johnson's home and found him and Jodie Hind and a number of items stolen in the burglary.

Johnson, of Alliance Street, Stockton, and Hind of Brignall Road, Stockton, pleaded guilty to theft of the laptop and holdall.

The jury also found them guilty of burglary and taking the Y-registration Mercedes without consent. They had denied both charges.

They were each jailed for five years and Hind's sentence will follow on from 121 days imprisonment left from his previous sentence.