A dozy burglar broke into a restaurant in Maidstone and liked it so much he decided to stay the night, a court heard.

After ransacking and choosing items to steal from Christi’s Bar and Restaurant in St Faith’s Street, homeless Soufyan Yahyaoui tucked himself up in bed in the owner’s accommodation.

But he was in for a rude awakening after the boss, Alex Buckwell arrived with two staff members and found him fast asleep.

The 36-year-old intruder grabbed a screwdriver he had used for the break-in and struck out at one of them, but ended up injuring himself when detained.

Now, Yahyaoui, of Parsonage Close, Tunbridge Wells, has been jailed for two years after admitting two burglaries and assault.

Maidstone Crown Court heard he was on police bail for shoplifting when he burgled the restaurant on September 10 last year.

Prosecutor Andrew Forsyth said the building was being renovated when Mr Buckwell walked past and saw that one of the windows had been smashed.

He went to find his father and they returned with staff member Andrew Reader. They went in and found damage had been caused.

They went to the flat above the restaurant and found the intruder asleep.

“They enquired what he was doing,” said Mr Forsyth. “He said he was homeless and came in to sleep.”

There was a struggle and Yahyaoui injured Mr Reader with the screwdriver.

When arrested he was found to have stolen an expensive Breitling watch, foreign currency, a satnav and an iPad.

While in custody DNA tests linked him to a burglary a week before at a house in Bishopsgate Road, Tunbridge Wells,

The owner was away in Holland when his cleaner saw a window had been smashed and rooms had been searched. A television and foreign currency was stolen.

Police were able to link DNA from a knife left at the scene to Yahyaoui, who has 14 previous convictions for 33 offences.

Passing sentence, Judge David Griffith-Jones QC said of the restaurant offence: “Bizarrely, you broke in and chose what it was you wanted to make off with – then went to sleep.”