A BURGLAR raided a house where a young family was sleeping, then told police who caught him: “I need to go back to prison.”

Gary Paul Floyd, 33, broke into the house with Liam James Baker, 25, and they stole with two laptops, a mobile phone, credit cards and other items, York Crown Court heard. The burglars, both heroin addicts, have now been jailed for three years each.

Three generations of one family, including a nine-month-old baby, were asleep in the house off Heslington Road in York when the pair broke in four days before Christmas, but they had no idea what had happened until police woke them at 4am to return the stolen property, said Nicholas Adlington, prosecuting.

Officers had spotted Floyd and Baker cycling away from the house and stopped them.

Sally Donaldson, for Floyd, said: “His reply when he was arrested in the street was ‘It’s about time you locked me up. I need to go back to prison’.”

The court heard Floyd’s 24 previous convictions include attempted robbery, GBH, burglary, and a robbery for which he was jailed in 2001 for five years.

Baker has 57 previous convictions and was on a community order imposed by York magistrates for theft at the time of the raid.

Detective Inspector Ian Dyer, of York CID, said: “Liam Baker and Gary Floyd are prolific offenders who have shown little or no regard for the numerous victims of their crimes over the years. There is no place for their behaviour in our community and, quite frankly, prison is the best place for them.

“It is pleasing that they have both received fairly long sentences and hopefully their victims will take some comfort from the fact that justice has been done.”

The Recorder of York, Judge Stephen Ashurst, sentenced Floyd and Baker to three years each in jail. In response to Floyd’s claim that he needed to go back to prison, the judge remarked: “Never a truer word was said.”

Floyd and Baker, both of no fixed address, admitted burglary and asked for a second burglary in central York to be taken into consideration.Baker admitted theft of one of the bicycles they were arrested on and Floyd asked for an offence of stealing lead from a roof in Coney Street to be taken into consideration.

Solicitor advocates for both men said they were heroin addicts and had spent their time on remand since their arrest in December trying to kick their habits. Richard Minion, for Baker, said he was “clearly in a drug-addled state” when he woke up and decided to go stealing to raise money for drugs.