Heroin addict James Brown was so desperate for a fix, he took cars to drive to London for drugs. But Brown, 24, of Crown Road, Billericay, ran out of luck when he crashed twice.
After raiding the homes of two neighbours, he woke an elderly couple and was later arrested hiding in a garden.
At Basildon Crown Court he admitted burglary, attempted burglary and two offences of taking vehicles without consent, and asked for 12 other offences to be taken into consideration.
It was alleged Brown's problems stemmed from taking drugs. Judge Christopher Mitchell warned one more offence would land him in prison.
He imposed a drug treatment and testing order for 18 months and banned Brown from driving for three years.
Published Thursday August 5, 2004
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