A Carlisle Crown Court judge has described two men who burgled a disabled friend’s home in the city as “drunken fools.”

Sheldon O’Neil, 20, and 36-year-old Stephen Wilkinson both admitted the bungled early morning raid on the unoccupied bungalow in Morton on September 7 last year.

Just a few hours before they struck, police gave the men a lift to Carlisle’s Asda store at Kingstown because officers were concerned about their safety as they walked home from a party at Longtown, the court heard.

While there, they tried to buy £90 worth of booze - but they were so drunk they dropped it.

Beccy McGregor, prosecuting, said that at about 5.45am that same morning a witness who was driving past the bungalow in Dunmallet Rigg saw O’Neil’s legs dangling from a window.

Wilkinson was standing outside the property, his head hidden by his hoodie.

Police were quickly on the scene and both men fled. Wilkinson, of South Henry Street, Carlisle, was caught almost immediately.

O’Neil, of Boustead Grassing, Denton Holme, was arrested a few days later.

Outside the bungalow, police found that the burglars had abandoned their haul of stolen goods - a pink laptop computer, a tool box, a small cash box.

At the time of the burglary, said Miss McGregor, the tenant - a paralysed wheelchair user - was not there because he was in hospital.

He was so upset by what happened - particularly that people he regarded as friends were responsible - that he felt unable to return to the property, the court heard.

Sarah Magill, for Wilkinson, said that at the time the defendant was under the influence of both drink and drugs.

“He is deeply ashamed of himself,” she said.

Tariq Khwam, for O’Neil, who also admitted possessing a bladed article in a public place in December, said that he too was under the influence of drink and drugs.

The defendant told police: “I was off my head on the drink and the alcohol that I’d consumed.”

Judge Peter Davies imposed a jail term of 28 months of Wilkinson, whose criminal record already has 60 offences on it.

O’Neil was jailed for 30 months. He is due to celebrate his 21st birthday tomorrow.