A WOMAN returned to her Workington home and found her ex-boyfriend slumped on her living room sofa - and extremely drunk.

Derek Rutherford, 46, who had helped himself to two bottles of wine, initially told police that he believed he had permission to be in the property but at the town’s magistrates’ court this week he admitted a single charge of burglar, which included the theft of wine.

Pamela Fee, prosecuting, said the defendant and the victim had been in a relationship between January and November of 2018.

He had stayed at her house for six weeks but after they split he had moved in with his parents. On April 29 last year, she had returned home at 7.30pm and immediately noticed that there were two empty wine bottles in the kitchen.

“In her sitting room, she found Mr Rutherford, heavily intoxicated, sitting on the sofa,” said Miss Fee. “He’d been drinking wine in her home without permission.”

He had simply let himself into the house. When police arrived, they struggled to get the defendant out of the house because he was so drunk.

When he was interviewed, Rutherford said he had permission to be in the house; and he claimed he had paid for various of the items there.

He explained he had suffered a brain bleed recently and spent weeks in a coma in intensive care. This had affected his short-term memory.

In her victim statement, the woman said her confidence was knocked massively. She had now got a new alarm system fitted to her home, and her family and neighbours worried for her constantly.

Claire Kirkpatrick, for Rutherford, of Solway Road, Whitehaven, said he felt the woman gave him “mixed messages”, telling him her door was always open. He had taken this literally, said the lawyer.

The lawyer added: “He let himself in, drank some wine, and it took 20 minutes to be able to wake him up. “ After seeing the bodycam footage, you could tell the victim was more annoyed than upset, added the lawyer.

Miss Kirkpatrick added that Rutherford’s brain injury had caused him significant memory issues but he now accepted the relationship was over.

Magistrates imposed a 12 month conditional discharge. They declined to grant a restraining order, noting that Rutherford accepted the relationship was over.

“Don’t go anywhere near the lady,” presiding magistrate Jenny Wilkinson told the defendant, who must pay £85 costs and a £21 victim surcharge.