Burglar caught hanging upside down on York flat window

Lee Kenneth Moore climbed up bins to get to the ground floor window

An "incredibly inept" burglar caught dangling upside down by his shoelaces during a break-in has been jailed.

Stricken Lee Kenneth Moore, 41, woke the couple living in the York apartment with his "moaning and groaning", the city's crown court was told.

They found the "intoxicated" inverted intruder hanging by his laces from the frame of an open window.

Moore, who has 116 previous offences, was jailed for two years and four months after admitting burglary.

Prosecutor Leila Taleb said on 15 July Moore had clambered up recycling bins outside the city centre building to help him get through a small living room window, left open due to the summer heat, in the ground floor flat,

But as he crawled through the frame, his laces became snagged and his foot ended up stuck in the window lock.

After being awoken by the noise, one of the residents found Moore hanging upside down from the window with his head on a sofa.

The woman asked Moore what he was doing, to which he replied: "I don't know where I am."

Her partner released Moore and restrained him, while she called the police.

Moore was taken into custody, but was so intoxicated through drink and drugs that he needed to be examined in hospital.

During police questioning, he initially denied breaking into the flat but admitted the charge at a later court hearing.

Moore was jailed for two years and four months at York Crown Court

Defence barrister Matthew Stewart said his client had been "walking through the city" after going out "drinking to excess" with a friend before he made the "spontaneous" decision to break into the flat.

He said that Moore had been living off benefits and had a drink problem and mental health issues.

Passing sentence, Judge Simon Hickey branded the attempted break-in "incredibly inept, but nevertheless quite frightening".