A serial burglar has been jailed after the medication he was taking for acute toothache led him to break into a house and steal a car.
Matthew Jackman was a recovering heroin addict but returned to crime after using morphine patches to control the agonising pain of toothache.
He broke into the back door of a house in Sidmouth and stole a bottle of bourbon and the car keys before driving off and crashing into a wall.
Grey haired Jackman, aged 51, has a 30-year-long criminal history including 11 burglaries but had stayed out of serious trouble since being released from his last sentence in 2010.
He slipped back into his old ways after borrowing the morphine patches and drinking heavily to dull the pain from his toothache, Exeter Crown Court was told.
Jackman, of Cowick Lane , Exeter , admitted burglary, aggravated vehicle taking and driving while disqualified and was jailed for a total of five years.
Judge Francis Gilbert, QC, told him:"You have a very bad record for dwelling house burglary. On this occasion you burgled a house in Sidmouth through an insecure back door and stole a bottle of bourbon and the keys to a Renault Clio.
"The house was occupied with the owners sleeping upstairs and at 4 am the same night you crashed the car at Wilmington , which is several miles away.
"Police found it crashed into a wall and seriously damaged and you were standing nearby wondering what to do next. You came up with a story about being the passenger and gave three different names for the driver, which was not helpful."
Mr David Bowen, prosecuting, said Jackman broke into the house in Arcot Road , Sidmouth, and took the keys and the car, which he crashed later the same night.
He said Jackman's previous convictions for burglary made him subject to the 'three strikes and you're out' rule which imposes a minimum sentence for three years.
His previous offending includes a five year term for burglary in 2008 and a ban and short jail sentence for drink driving earlier this year, meaning he was in breach of his disqualification.
Mr Stephen Nunn, defending, said:"He is 51 and has not been in trouble for a long time. He has heart problems and had difficulty with toothache, for which a friend gave him morphine painkilling patches.
"He had been on methadone and he also used alcohol before committing the offence. He pleaded guilty at the first opportunity."
