A burglar smashed his way into a family’s house at night after being given drugs by a “so-called friend".

Fabio Ricketts, 38, broke into the house in Farnworth in the early hours of Friday, March 3 this year.

Most of the family were asleep at the time, but Bolton Crown Court heard how a woman was woken and was shocked to find Ricketts in her kitchen.

Sophie Kenny, prosecuting, said: “Mr Ricketts simply walked past her into the dining room repeating ‘sorry love, wrong house.’”

She added: “He seemed to be acting frantically.”

Ms Kenny told the court how the woman’s partner was woken and tackled Ricketts who fled the house taking the woman’s coat with him.

Police were called and he was found and arrested nearby.

The defendant, of Huntingdon Avenue, Manchester, had a balaclava on him at the time but did not appear to have been wearing it at any point during the burglary, though CCTV footage showed him putting on gloves before breaking into the house in Farnworth.

Ricketts, who has 18 previous convictions for 24 offences, answered no comment when interviewed by police but pleaded guilty to burglary when brought before the crown court on April 11.

Hugh McKee, defending, argued that Ricketts, who appeared via video link from prison, deserved credit for his guilty plea and said he was already working to improve his behaviour.

Mr McKee said: “He was going through a particularly bad time and a so-called friend had given him 20 diazepam tablets.”

He added: “He today presents as lucid, clear thinking and he himself accepts that he’s better now than he was in March.”

Mr McKee told the court that Ricketts now accepted that he needed rehabilitation and had unprompted expressed a wish to apologise to the family who’s house he had burgled.

He said: “He doesn’t remember what he was doing or why, but he wants to sort himself out.”

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Judge Nicholas Clarke KC said that he accepted Ricketts was capable of showing a different side of himself and said that when off drugs he “presents as a smart, respectful person".

But he also pointed out that the incident was a “particularly serious burglary” and reminded the court that the footage showing Ricketts putting gloves on meant that he had “quite deliberately” broken into the house.

Addressing the defendant, he said: “The court knows that you are a very experienced burglar.”

Judge Clarke sentenced Ricketts to a total of three years in prison.