A man who burgled a house was caught by his wife - who marched him back to their home next door.

Baseball-hat wearing Paul Armitage was caught on CCTV footage targeting the Dewsbury property several times.

Kirklees Magistrates’ Court heard that his wife Louise confronted the 55-year-old after spotting him in their neighbour’s kitchen.

The Huddersfield bench was told that Armitage had little recollection of the incidents due to a heavy intake of painkillers for a rare fungal infection.

Armitage, of Briestfield Road, pleaded to burglary on March 10.

The court heard that he and his wife lived in rented accommodation on a farm. The occupant of the neighbouring house was away on holiday and the break-in was discovered on March 10 by a window cleaner.

He found Armitage inside the house and called police. They arrived to discover that the patio door had been smashed.

Andy Wills, prosecuting, said: “The premises was covered by CCTV and it captured the offence.

“On March 10 at 16:06 the defendant was seen walking around the property and looking into the house.

“It shows some gardening scissors and a cutting motion around the wires of the outside of the house, presumably to stop the burglar alarm from sounding.

“At 17:01 footage showed him smash the patio window with a sledgehammer. He emerges some time later with items concealed under his coat.”

Just 45 minutes later Armitage returned again and went inside.

Mr Wills added: “At 18:04 his wife attends, seems to have a discussion with him and they walk away.”

Armitage, who appeared in court in custody due to the proximity of the attacked home, accepted taking a bottle of wine from the house.

Ian Whiteley, mitigating, said that he had little memory of the burglary taking place.

He explained that his client suffered a severe hand injury at his former place of work and now had a fungal infection in that hand.

Mr Whiteley said that Armitage was the only person in the country to have that strain of infection and takes medication for his pain.

He said: “It’s an offence out of character and he had no fall out with his neighbour. He has an issue with alcohol and on this day he’d taken more medication than he should have done. “

Magistrates asked probation staff for a report before sentencing Armitage.