A burglar who entered a home after a father went to work at 5.30am, the dad’s 12-year-old son still in bed before going to school, was told by a judge on Monday : “You should be disgusted with yourself.”

Neil White, aged 40, was found by the boy sitting on a sofa in the house at Caernarfon, and in his pockets were black gloves and wire cutters.

“You knew what you were doing,” Judge Huw Rees told him at Caernarfon crown court.

White, of Holywell Terrace in the town was jailed for two years after pleading guilty to burglary with intent to steal, including two months for stealing two bottles of whisky from a supermarket.

Frances Wilmott, prosecuting, said the boy had been scared at the time but there were no lasting effects. The boy had gone upstairs and phoned police, and White was still in the house when they arrived. His father now made sure the doors were locked. Miss Wilmott said White had 43 previous convictions for 89 offences and had been on a community order imposed for arson.

Anna Pope, defending, said he’d been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia and the day before the burglary on March 1 had been found unconscious after taking d Valium and Diazepam he obtained from the internet.

He’d claimed the only possible reason he was in the house was because he mistook it for his brother’s home nearby.

“He feels very ashamed that he might have frightened a young child,” she added.

“You knew what you were doing,” the judge told him.

“You gave a lying account saying you thought it was your brother’s home, you were tooled up with black gloves and wire cutters.

There is an extensive history of dishonest offending, possession of drugs and arson.”