A BURGLAR who crashed a getaway car while drunk got his wish yesterday - a spell behind bars to keep him out of further trouble.

Magistrates in Harrogate heard how 24-year-old Ross Jenkins, of Malings Close, Sunderland, travelled to Boroughbridge, North Yorkshire, with another man after the pair had been at a party on Wearside.

Mark Haigh, prosecuting, said the two men - Jenkins refused to name his accomplice - broke into a shop in the High Street in the early hours of August 21 and loaded £130 worth of drink and chocolates into a Volvo.

Police found Jenkins asleep in the car after it had ploughed into a wall in the nearby village of Great Ouseburn. Tests showed he had drunk nearly twice the legal alcohol limit.

Mr Haigh said Jenkins, who had 33 convictions for 124 offences, had been wanted at the time after attempting to steal a till from a pharmacy in Easington, County Durham, in June last year.

Jenkins pleaded guilty to burglary, attempted theft, drink-driving and driving without insurance.

His solicitor, Clive Farndon, said Jenkins, who had no recollection of the burglary because of the amount he had drunk, wanted to stay out of trouble until the beginning of next year.

Bench chairman Jim Fender jailed Jenkins for 11 months and gave him a three-year driving ban.