Lowlife Liam Tait ruined New Year's Day for a Tyneside family after ransacking their home in the early hours and stealing £18,000 of valuables.
While the man of the house was out working as a taxi driver through the night, his wife and children were asleep in bed, when Tait and others broke in.
When the cabbie returned early in the morning, he was shocked to discover his home in Fenham, Newcastle , had been ransacked.
Tait, 27, who has 74 previous convictions, admitted burglary and was also suspected of targeting another house that night, although prosecutors accepted a guilty plea to handling stolen goods in relation to that raid.
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Now the thief has been jailed for three years at Newcastle Crown Court.
Judge Julie Clemitson told him: "The homeowner went off to work, leaving his wife and children.
"It would seem they were sleeping in their beds when their house was entered by you or one of your colleagues.
"Things had been moved around, there had been a messy search and a substantial amount of property had been stolen and strewn across the garden."
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The break-in was discovered by the homeowner when he returned from his shift to his home on Gowland Avenue, Fenham , at around 6.40am.
Among the property stolen was a large flat screen TV, a playstation, jewellery, cash and bank cards.
Some of it was sold at Cash Converters, where Tait and his two suspected accomplices were seen on CCTV.
Other footage showed him in the area at the time and a footprint from him was found on a window sill at the point of entry.
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Another home, on nearby Middleton Avenue, was also broken into that night and Tait was originally charged with burgling that too, after handbags, a wallet and purse were stolen.
Tait was identified on CCTV in the area with two others around 4am and was seen carrying items from that break-in.
Prosecutors accepted a guilty plea to handling stolen goods and dropped the burglary charge in relation to that offence.
Tait, of no fixed address, was on licence from a previous offence at the time.
The court heard he was convicted of six burglaries in 2002 and others in 2004, 2008, 2015 and 2017 and handling stolen goods last year.
Paul Caulfield, defending, said: "Following his last sentence, he was released on licence and had nowhere to live and he has mental health issues and drugs issues.
"He had engaged with the drug and alcohol team in custody but he was released without support and accommodation."
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