A "GOLDILOCKS" burglar fell asleep on the job after breaking into a family home.

Derek Minnikin was found sound asleep on a child's bedroom floor by a shocked householder the morning after breaking into her home in Front Street, West Auckland, County Durham.

Minnikin, who was sleeping off the effects of a drink and drugs binge, had pulled a sheet over him and spent the night in the room.

The child who normally slept in that room was found unharmed in another bedroom by his mother, Durham Crown Court was told.

When awoken, a dazed Minnikin, who still smelled strongly of alcohol, told the woman he had no idea how he got there.

He was so hung-over that he made no attempt to escape, even after the residents had contacted the police.

Minnikin told her he had been drinking cider, on top of magic mushrooms and cocaine, before attempting to walk home from Newton Aycliffe to West Auckland.

He saw an open kitchen window and climbed in, before falling asleep.

Minnikin, 22, now of Manor View, Ferryhill, admitted burglary and was jailed for six months, with 241 days of a previous uncompleted sentence added.

Christopher Dorman O'Go-wan, mitigating, told the court: "In any view, it was one of the more incompetent burglaries there has been.

"He had far too much to drink and had taken too many illegal substances, and on his way home he found his way into a home.

"It's quite clear that, as a result of what he had taken, he fell asleep on the floor and when he was caught he didn't resist. When the police called he didn't try to escape."

Mr Dorman O'Gowan said Minnikin was seeking help to overcome his drink and drug addiction.

Jailing Minnikin, Judge David Wood told him while it was, "at the bottom of the scale for burglary", it was still too serious to justify a non-custodial sentence