A DRUG-ADDLED burglar cannot remember breaking into a house and rifling through drawers before being disturbed and falling down the stairs as he fled.

Jack Owens's lawyer claims the sleeping tablets he had taken – zoplicone – are responsible for more crime than any other prescribed medicines or illegal substances.

And a judge told the 21-year-old from Middlesbrough that prison was a "chance of a lifetime" to beat his addiction and avoid being a "thin, aged recidivist".

Teesside Crown Court heard how a householder was asleep with her two young children when she woke at 4.30am to find Owens in her bedroom.

Prosecutor David Crook said: "She shouted at him, asking what he was doing there and how he had got in.

"He appeared, in her view, to be under the influence of drugs and didn't know where he was or what he was doing.

"He fell down the stairs as he tried to make off, and she followed him and saw him go out of the house and climb over a garden fence."

When police arrested Owens half-an-hour later, he said: "I'll bring hell on your house. I'll set your house on fire."

His solicitor John Nixon told Judge Sean Morris: "He had taken zoplicone, which is a Class C drug, but it ought to be Class A. It is responsible for more crime than any other drug.

"It leaves individuals without memory of what happened and means they behave in ways utterly out of character, and this was such a case.

"He says he was devastated to discover what had happened."

The court heard that Owens has a lengthy record, but had never before broken into a house – with most of his offences being breaches of an anti-social behaviour order when he was younger.

While being held in prison on remand since his arrest in February, he has taken drugs awareness and plastering courses, and plans to study bricklaying, said Mr Nixon.

Judge Morris told Owens: "You have a bad record for petty offending, and this is your first foray into serious offending.

"You have got 12 months to get yourself clean. This is a chance of a lifetime opportunity for you. Seize the day.

"If you don't tackle this drugs business, you are going to end up a thin, aged recidivist and you don't want that."

Owens, of Cheddar Close, Grangetown, Middlesbrough, admitted burglary and was given a two-year sentence, of which he will serve half.