A BURGLAR has been jailed for two and a half years for breaking into two houses and taking car keys.

Gabriel Chamberlain, 28, of Salsian House, Cowley, Oxford, admitted two burglaries, aggravated vehicle taking and unauthorised vehicle taking at Oxford Crown Court yesterday.

Peter Coombs, prosecuting, said Chamberlain stole personal goods and the keys of a BMW and a Land Rover during burglaries in Western Road on April 13 and Divinity Road on April 30.

Mr Coombs said that while Chamberlain was driving the £22,000 BMW 320i, he fell asleep at the wheel, crashed and wrote the car off. Chamberlain asked for a further four cases of burglary and three of vehicle taking to be taken into consideration.

The court heard that a drug habit costing between £25 and £100 a day had led Chamberlain into crime.

But pre-sentence reports said he was not suitable for a drugs treatment and testing order.

Judge David Morton Jack told him: "You are a young man with a lengthy criminal record and a serious drugs problem.

"But you are not yet ready to seek and take advice with regards to your problem," he added.