DOZY raider Mark Smith proved he was as thick as thieves when he fell sound asleep under his victim's bed.
He thief gems from a jewellery box and signed checkbook himself, but the vodka and valium he had already downed that morning was taking its toll.
And when stunned Mrs Stephenson came upstairs, she found Smith fast asleep under her bed.
Prosecutor Barry Robson
"Police were called and found Smith still asleep under the bed. They could not get any response either when they tried to take him.
"Officers eventually managed to drag Smith - wearing a rucksack and still clutching a stolen pair of gold earrings in his hand - from under the bed.
"They found he had fallen asleep on a cheque book in the name of Stephenson," Mr Robson told the court.
Smith, 24, of Wark Avenue, North Shields, was jailed for 18 months after admitting burgling the house in Whitley Bay and a neighbouring property earlier the same morning.
He already has previous convictions for robbery, theft, and drunkenness but has nothing on his record for home raids, the court heard.