Boozed-up burglar Darrell Shaw celebrated too early when he found an unopened bottle of champagne during a night-time raid at Ashford School.

The roofer – who had done some repair work at the school in East Hill in the past – had spent a night on the tiles before walking in through an open door.

And when Shaw went into a staff bedroom, he could not believe his luck when he found the chilled champers in a fridge... so he popped the cork and began quaffing.

But dopey Darrell did not realise that just a few feet away was assistant housemaster Luke Kadinopoulos who was sleeping while wearing earplugs.

And the squiffy raider turned into a "champagne Charlie" when he snatched £1,700 of computers and cameras, but left behind his fingerprints on the bottle.

Shaw, 44, of Twelve Acres, Willesborough, claimed he had been drinking all afternoon in September and had walked into the school "to look for a toilet".

Prosecutor Jim Harvey told Canterbury Crown Court the housemaster was sleeping in part of the school that is separated from the area where students stayed.

He said: "The victim went to bed that night and is in the habit of regularly using ear plugs due to the nature of the block where it can at times be noisy.

"He heard nothing overnight and woke the following morning. He then became suspicious when he found a white earplug outside his room which wasn't one of his own.

"He then saw the cork from the bottle of champagne, which had been in the fridge, on the floor and then saw the bottle which had been opened and partially drunk."

The prosecutor said the assistant housemaster said his door had not been locked "and as it transpired neither had the main door to the apartments been locked either".

Police found Shaw's fingerprints on the champagne bottle and went to his home and he admitted the raid.

"He told officers he hadn't been able to cope with what he had done and didn't know why he had done it..." - prosecutor Jim Harvey

"He told officers he hadn't been able to cope with what he had done and didn't know why he had done it," said Mr Harvey. "He also said he had dumped all the stolen property in the street."

Shaw claimed he had been taken short after boozing and had gone inside the school because he knew the layout from visiting it while working for a removal company.

Simon Gledhill, defending, said: "This was an unusual burglary because no one would expect a burglar to take items of relatively high value while popping a champagne cork and drink some of it while in the premises.

"This was an act of impulse after consuming a lot of alcohol and he feels shame for what he did."

Judge Heather Norton jailed Shaw for a year after he admitted the burglary, which had been committed in breach of a suspended sentence.

She told him had there been access to the pupil area "the sentence would have been considerably more severe".