A BUNGLING burglar was caught on camera as he caused £3,000 damage to a pizza shop – trying to escape.

Hungry drug addict Mark Powell brought the ceiling down as he attempted to get out of the hole he created to get in.

His hapless efforts were captured on the takeaway’s security system and police quickly arrested the known criminal.

Powell pleaded guilty to burglary at an earlier hearing and faced a prison sentence when he appeared at Teesside Crown Court yesterday.

The judge gave him a 16- week jail term, suspended for a year, and told him prison was inevitable if he offended again.

The 32-year-old promised “I’m going to sort myself out,”

and as he left, said: “Have a nice day, Your Honour.”

The judge, Recorder James Goss, declined to watch the CCTV, but examined still photographs of the break-in.

The pictures and video show Powell’s intoxicated attempt to climb onto the counter and up through the hole in the ceiling.

Stephen Constantine, mitigating, said: “This is one of those cases where seeing is not necessarily believing the ineptitude.”

He added: “There was attempt after attempt to get on the counter, stand up on top of a sign and get back through the ceiling. The sign can be seen crashing down, followed by Mr Powell.

“Your Honour can see the state of intoxication that he must have been in.

“He climbs over the counter time after time, on each occasion there is a resounding bang as he hits his head on the sign. Then the whole lot comes crashing down.”

Outside court, Powell said he had given up heroin and crack cocaine and wanted to steer youngsters away from the perils of drugs.

The court heard that he broke into Angelo’s, in Norton Road, Stockton, in May, and stole £50 in coins.

He said he had been kicked out by his girlfriend and was hungry, but could not find a kebab, so took some money.

After the hearing, Powell, of Newton Walk, Stockton, said he could barely remember breaking in to the shop.

He said: “Trying to get out again hurt and caused all that damage. It all kept falling in on me.

“I was hungry and I think that’s what I did with the money afterwards – I went to McDonald’s.”