AN “incredibly inept” burglar caught dangling upside down from his shoelaces in the middle of the night has been jailed.

A couple in a city centre flat were woken by Lee Kenneth Moore, 41, “moaning and groaning” in the living room, said Leila Taleb, prosecuting.

He had put some recycling bins against their wall and tried to climb in through the “very small” living room window, which they had left partially open.

But his shoe laces had caught on the window’s locking mechanism.

When the couple walked into the living room, they saw Moore upside down with his head on the sofa and his shoes above him. He was trying to free himself.

When they asked him what he was doing in the flat, he told them: “I don’t know where I am."

He had only recently been released from a prison sentence for other offences and has previous convictions for burglary.

Judge Simon Hickey told York Crown Court: “It is one of the most inept burglaries that has appeared before this court for quite some time.”

He said Moore must have done some planning for the raid because the flat opened into a private courtyard, not the street.

But Moore had gone about the burglary “in an incredibly inept way”.

Moore, of no fixed address, pleaded guilty to house burglary, committed on July 15, and was jailed for 876 days.

Ms Taleb said he had 116 previous convictions, two-thirds of which were for dishonesty, mostly shoplifting, but with some house and commercial burglaries.

They included stealing a woman’s suitcase from her hotel room as she slept – and when he was released on parole partway through the sentence he received for that and other offences, he went back to the same hotel and burgled it again, only to be caught again.

Ms Taleb said the flat in the most recent case looked onto a courtyard that was not accessible to the general public. It was approached via a private car park and a gate.

The couple had retired to bed at midnight after watching films together.

They had left the living room window open because the weather was warm.

“They were woken by someone moaning and groaning around 3am,” she said.

When they realised they were being burgled, the woman called police while the man restrained Moore.

The woman was worried about what Moore might do.

For Moore, Matthew Stewart said he had been drinking heavily at the time because his mother had died in 2022 from cancer. His father lives in Ireland and he has no children.

He had been walking through the city centre with a friend and was intoxicated.

“It was a spontaneous, impulsive decision to burgle this property,” said Mr Stewart. “The window was open.”

Moore was remorseful, said the barrister. He had medical problems which meant he easily caught infections and was receiving medication for mental health problems while in prison.