Burglar fell asleep under victim's bed

Dozy raider Mark Smith proved he was as thick as thieves when he fell sound asleep under his victim's bed.

He had crept past Heather Stephenson while she was ironing.

He rifled gems from a jewellery box and helped himself to a cheque book, but the vodka and valium he had already downed that morning was taking its toll.



And when stunned Mrs Stephenson came upstairs, she found Smith fast asleep under her bed.

"She could see a pair of legs sticking out", said Barry Robson, prosecuting at Newcastle Crown Court. She was shouting and shaking the defendant but got no response. Police were called and found Smith still asleep under the bed. They could not get any response either when they tried to take him."

Smith, 24, of Wark Avenue, North Shields, was jailed for 18 months after admitting burgling the house in Whitley Bay and a neighbouring property earlier the same morning.