TWO strangers, invited back to a couple's house after an evening drinking, stole their hosts' car keys and drove off in their car and van.

John Bisson, 29, and Elizabeth Cleary, 32, also took an iPhone after the householders fell asleep.

Both were jailed at Oxford Crown Court on Wednesday (April 29) after a judge described how they left a trail of misery in their wake.

They carried on drinking at the couple’s home in Pine Close, Oxford, after meeting them as they left a nearby pub at about 11.30pm on December 15 last year.

Kevin Walsh, prosecuting, said the next morning the occupants' Peugeot car and BT work van had gone, along with an iPhone. Both vehicles were recovered undamaged.

Mr Walsh said attempts to sell the iPhone led to Bisson and Cleary being traced and arrested.

The court heard Bisson had 17 previous convictions for 42 offences and Cleary had 20 convictions for 36 offences, consisting mainly of theft, burglary and shoplifting offences.

Timothy Boswell, defending Bisson, said: “What happened was not planned."

indeed it is clear it was the victims who invited them back to their address.”

He added that taking the vehicles was “a rather drunken, spontaneous and stupid thing to do.”

The court heard Cleary was also facing sentencing for separate charges of aggravated vehicle taking on November 23, 2014, driving without insurance or a driving licence and two counts of possession of a Class B drug on September 7 and 24, 2014.

Trudi Yeatman, defending, said Cleary was an intelligent and very capable woman whose life had been blighted by drugs and alcohol.

Judge Patrick Eccles said the offences against the couple were “a very mean, cynical and dishonest piece of opportunism.”

He continued: “Wherever the two of you go, You seem to leave misery in your wake.”

Bisson, of Sage Walk, Oxford, and Cleary, of no fixed address, were sentenced to eight months in prison for theft and four months for two counts of taking a vehicle without permission to run concurrently.

Cleary was further sentenced to four months for aggravated vehicle taking on Novembers 23, 2014, to run consecutive to the joint offences, and seven days for two counts of possession of a Class B drug on September 7 and 24, 2014, to run concurrently.

Bisson is already disqualified from driving until January 2016 for previous offences and Cleary was disqualified for 18 months.