AN intruder with mental health issues entered a stranger’s house in Redditch, slept in a child’s bed, urinated in a glass and helped himself to a can of coke.

When confronted by the householder, intruder Scott Mansfield said ‘this is my house’ and later said voices he called ‘the chain of command’ had told him it was his home.

The 42-year-old was originally charged with burglary, which he denied, but admitted theft of a can of coke when he appeared at Worcester Crown Court on Thursday, August 23.

By the time he appeared in court to be sentenced he had already spent 12 months on remand, the equivalent of a two-year prison sentence, a longer sentence than he would have received had he been convicted of burglary.

Mansfield entered the house in Mount Street, Redditch, on July 17 last year but was only discovered the next morning by the householder's two young children.

Patrick Kelly, prosecuting, said: “His son came into his room and said there was a strange man in his bedroom.”

The boy had been sleeping in a different room that night. The man’s daughter then confirmed there was a strange man and the householder entered the room to discover Mansfield lying in the bed in his boxer shorts, asking him: “What are you doing in my house?”

Mansfield told the man he was born in 1975 and this was his property.

Police were called and found a can of coke and an empty glass of urine by the bed.

The defendant was taken to Kidderminster police station, telling them his daughter had told him to do it and it had been his daughter's address.

He told officers the chain of command communicated with him through a growth or vein in the back of his head, the court heard.

The defendant was assessed by a psychiatrist and deemed fit to plead. He has no previous matters for dishonesty and previous offences were described as primarily harassment and public order with a driving with excess alcohol matter in 2008.

Charles Hamer, defending, urged the judge to impose a nominal prison sentence which would mean that he was released that day.

Judge Nicholas Cartwright said: “It’s bizarre. His muddled thinking due to his psychiatric history led him, it’s clear, to deludedly think that he lived at that address.”

He said the defendant’s mental health issues meant he had oscillated between being fit and unfit to plead.

He said Mansfield could not be guilty of burglary because he had not been aware he was trespassing but the test for dishonesty was an objective one and therefore he was guilty of the theft of the can of the coke.

The judge imposed a one-week prison sentence, the effect of which would be the defendant’s immediate release. The probation service hope to find him approved premises upon his release.