TWO thieves broke into a woman's house and stole her car because they had missed their last train home.
Kieran Hepworth and Joseph Milne crashed the car down a dirt track after a high-speed police chase.
Hepworth, 24, and Milne, 18, had been at a party in Goole when they missed the last train home.
They decided to hitchhike, but only got as far as Swinefleet, when they came across Fiona Burnley's Mercedes parked opposite her home in High Street.
Prosecuting at Hull Crown Court, Helen Wheatley said: "At 4am, she and her partner were woken by the dogs barking, which was not unusual, so they went back to sleep.
"But later, they were woken by the police who informed them they had been burgled and the car had been taken."
The alarm was raised with the police at about 4.30am by a member of the public who saw the Mercedes being driven erratically.
Ms Wheatley said: "The police started to pursue the vehicle, which took off at speed. They lost sight of it when they went off a dirt track.
"But they then saw smoke coming from a drainage point and saw the vehicle had crashed and the two defendants emerging from the vehicle."
As well as the car keys and car, Hepworth and Milne also stole a laptop, a handbag, a purse and £35.
The car was a write-off.
Both men were then taken to Clough Road police station in Hull and tested for drugs.
Milne, who has a previous conviction for robbery, was high on opiates.
Hepworth, who has 46 previous convictions including for vehicle theft, burglary and robbery, had taken cocaine.
In mitigation for Hepworth, who was driving the car, Vincent Blake-Barnard said: "The defendant had been socialising in Goole.
"They had missed their last train back. He was in a secure relationship, and still is, and his intention was to get home to her.
"He was heading back to Swinefleet with the intention of hitchhiking but when he got to the main road, clearly misunderstanding the length, came across this property, which was not secure.
"It was purely opportunistic."
In mitigation for Milne, who suffered a broken ankle in the crash, Catherine Goddard said: "His pre-sentence report makes sorry reading. He is a young man with problems, but he is not yet so committed to a life of crime that there is no real hope for him, but then, he doesn't seem to be committing to anything.
"He can barely read and write. He left school with no qualifications and has little sense of motivation or ambition, but he does occasionally dream.
"This young man was a passenger in the car. He has had plenty of time to reflect upon what has happened, the consequences of his behaviour for the victims and his family."
Hepworth, of Castleford, and Milne, of Doncaster, admitted burgling the house on July 9 and aggravated vehicle taking.
Judge Simon Jack jailed Hepworth for 16 months and sentenced Milne to 12 months in a young offenders' institution.
Judge Jack said: "Burglary is a serious offence, more so when it is at night, when the occupants are in bed. "Kieran Hepworth, you have an abysmal record.
"Joseph Milne, you are much younger. It is clear you are a young man with difficulties and I have the clear impression you are easily led.
"If you were on your own, you would not have committed this offence."
Both were banned from driving for a year.
