A "mean" criminal snatched children's Christmas presents after being offered shelter for the night by their mother.

Lee Wilson, 30, was invited to sleep on a sofa at Joanne Duggan's Workington home after locking himself out of his own house on January 28.

But Carlisle Crown Court heard early the following morning Wilson "trashed" Ms Duggan's living room and stole electrical items before fleeing the property.

These included two computer tablets which had been given to her children as Christmas presents only weeks earlier.

Wilson was high on Valium at the time of that crime, as he had been while burgling a Whitehaven flat in September.

He stole personal possessions on that occasion, too, shoving over and injuring the householder as she caught him in the act.

Having pleaded guilty to both the theft and burglary, Wilson was sentenced at the crown court today.

He was given a 21-month prison sentence by Judge Barbara Forrester.

She told Wilson, of Crosthwaite Court, Workington: "Both these offences are mean."