A MAN took advantage of a reveller falling asleep after drinking heavily on New Year’s Eve to burgle his next-door home.

Jonathan Robert Foster was seen “patting down” the sleeping man to try, unsuccessfully, to find his house keys, before taking a screw driver and hammer from the kitchen of the house he was drinking at, to crudely force open the rear door of the neighbouring property.

Durham Crown Court heard that Foster, with an unknown accomplice, was seen entering the house in Station Road, Easington Colliery, knowing it was unoccupied at the time, because the resident was asleep next door.

They took about £600 money, cctv equipment, jewellery, two mobile phones, a tattooing machine and after shave from property, shortly before midnight on December 31, 2020.

Foster was also seen leaving the house and his footwear sole print plus fingerprints were both recovered from the targeted house.

The court was told only the after shave was recovered.

When he was interviewed, the 47-year-old defendant, of Ross Terrace, Ferryhill, denied responsibility for the offence.

But, appearing at the crown court on remand after the case was sent from the magistrates’ court on New Year’s Day this year, he admitted the charge of burglary.

The court heard Foster has numerous convictions, mostly for theft, but also has burglary offences on his record from the 1990s.

Most of his offending was said to be acquisitive crime to help meet his long-standing substance misuse, and when asked by Judge Ray Singh what the proceeds of the burglary of a year ago was used for, he accepted it was to pay for drugs.

Lewis Kerr, mitigating, however, told the court: “That was his situation of a year ago.

“It was simply a reflection of his behaviour at that time, but since then, he’s now doing well with his rehabilitation.

“It’s at the instigation of a new probation officer with whom he has worked well for the past few months.”

Judge Singh said had he been sentenced shortly after the break-in the outcome would have been immediate custody.

But as he has made progress in trying to rid himself of his drug habit, the judge suspended the 15-month prison sentence for two years.

He made Foster subject of 25 rehabilitation activity days working with the Probation Service, while he must also undergo a four-month drug rehabilitation requirement, which will see him coming before the judge on a monthly basis to ensure he remains substance-free.

Judge Singh warned him missing any probation appointment, “any whiff” of drug taking in those coming months or any further offending, even, “nicking a Mars bar from the corner shop”, would see him risking having to serve part or all of the 15-month sentence in full.

Foster’s first monthly drug rehabilitation assessment will be before the judge will be back at the court on Friday February 4.

He was also ordered to pay a court statutory surcharge.

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The current order will only expire in January 2024.