A DRUG-USER who was found wandering around a housing complex for the elderly in the early hours of Christmas Day has been spared jail.

Police were told there was a burglar on the prowl and found Ian McMenamin in the Middlesbrough town centre property with 15 ecstasy tablets.

McMenamin, 26, was acquitted of burglary at an earlier hearing but returned to Teesside Crown Court yesterday to be sentenced for possessing a class A drug.

Offences of driving while disqualified, without insurance and obstructing a police officer by giving a false name were also dealt with after being sent to the court by magistrates.

McMenamin, of Ringwood Road, Middlesbrough, was ordered to carry out 80 hours of unpaid work in the community and given a 12-month driving ban.

He was also given a two-year community rehabilitation order and ordered to attend a Think First probation programme.

Cath Fagan, prosecuting, said McMenamin was caught by police at about 4am near one of the flats in Linthorpe Road and was unsteady on his feet. He was charged with burglary and spent three months on remand before being cleared at his trial.

Miss Fagan said McMenamin told officers he had bought the pills for £1 each while he had been out on the town for Christmas Eve. The driving offences were the result of him being stopped in a car on the A1085, in Middlesbrough, last October.