A SERIAL burglar is happier in jail – because it gives him easy access to the hardest illegal drugs, a court has been told.
A defence barrister gave a stunning account of how dozy car thief William Butler felt "very much at home" in prison.
The hapless addict and career criminal was back before court after he broke into a couple's home and stole a laptop and the keys to their Mercedes convertible – before leaving the car parked just a mile away with the computer still inside.
Butler, who has been in and out of jail since the mid-1980s for over 30 burglaries, pleaded guilty to burglary at a home in Amherst Road in Stoke and taking the car without consent on April 30 of this year.
During sentencing Plymouth Crown Court heard how his female victim was scared to leave her own home since the intrusion, during which Butler scoured through the property while her and her husband – recovering from a stroke at the time – slept upstairs.
Prosecutor Nick Lewin said the woman went to the bathroom without clothes on at 6.15am and noticed that the front door was unlocked.
She then discovered her purse, containing £40 in cash and bank cards, was missing along with a laptop and keys to her home, business and car.
The police trawling through the couple's private CCTV system "instantly recognised" Butley, said Mr Lewin.
As the police were arresting the 49-year-old the couple searched the nearby area for signs of the car and found it parked in nearby Wyndham Square in Stonehouse.
The victim said in a statement: "For someone to enter my home while I slept was extremely frightening.
"When I came down the stairs I was naked and vulnerable. I don't want to think about what could have happened."
Robert Linford, in defence, said the fact that Butler, currently in prison, left the most valuable stolen items near the scene of the crime showed what state of mind he was in.
"He can barely remember the night in question," he said.
"He is once again in custody in a place he is very much at home.
"He is fed and clothed and he has access to drugs. With the best will in the world, the prison service can't stop them getting in.
"Sadly it is easier to get Class A [drugs] inside the prison environment than outside. He appears [currently] to be clean and in control of his faculties."
Mr Lindon said it was "astonishing" that Butler was still alive.
"He knows that at 49, something has to change," he continued. I've been representing him for four years and it is a miracle that he has got to the age he has. He has taken every drug imaginable over the years and how he hasn't died is astonishing."
Mr Linford said Butler wanted the home owner, sat at the back of court, to know he was sorry for his actions, but Judge Paul Darlow remarked that "he hasn't had the courage to look at her once", commenting on the fact the defendant was staring absently for the majority of the sentencing.
"He is probably rightly ashamed," said Mr Linford.
Judge Darlow said the victim's statement showed the "violation felt by the victim".
"She should be able to feel safe in her own home," he added, before handing down a prison sentence of three years and one month, along with costs of £900 and a victim surcharge of £125.
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