Homeless Wayne Lovatt burgled a house which was being renovated - after sleeping in an outhouse at the property.
The 37-year-old - who has 97 previous convictions for theft-related offences, including seven burglaries - broke into the Smallthorne property and stole some coffee.
But he was caught after a neighbour heard the break-in and the homeowner returned the next day to hear the defendant in the outhouse.
Now Lovatt has been jailed for 876 days at Stoke-on-Trent Crown Court.
Prosecutor Jennifer Josephs said: “The householder had left the property secure on February 15. On February 19, her next-door neighbour heard banging and smashing coming from inside the address and thought it was being burgled. She could hear two male voices and called the police.
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"The police arrived and stopped the defendant and the other man. They confirmed they had been sleeping in the outhouse. Police asked the owner to attend. She could see the house had been ransacked.
“The next day she went back to check it was still secure and heard male voices. She called 999. Police found the defendant and his then co-accused in the outhouse. There were needles on the floor.”
Lovatt, of no fixed address, pleaded guilty to burglary on the basis he stole a coffee machine and coffee.
The court heard the defendant is a ‘three-strike’ burglar.
Judge David Fletcher said: “You are aged 37 and already have a list of previous convictions which is getting longer and longer.
"You have, for most of your adult life, struggled with a drug addiction. Your living circumstances could only be described as squalid. It seems to me that the future has nothing in store for you except for more of the same unless you take a conscious decision to deal with your drug addiction.”
