Two men 'woke up an entire neighbourhood' as they attempted to steal lead from the roof of a shop in Attleborough, a court heard.

Alexander Terry and Steven Kent made so much noise while on the roof of the M&Co clothing store on Church Street that it woke people living nearby.

Police were called and both men were identified by CCTV footage before later being arrested.

The pair appeared at Norwich Magistrates' Court on Tuesday where they both pleaded guilty to stealing lead on September 7.

Prosector Andrew Nickerson said: 'One witness was awoken by the sound of scraping and dragging.

'He looked out of his window and saw two men dragging something.

'Police were called to College Court and CCTV showed them on the roof of M&Co.

'A male [Terry] can be seen quite clearly ripping lead from the roof and passing it down to Mr Kent.'

Mr Nickerson said the lead was taken to a shed at College Court, Queens Square in Attleborough, where Kent was living.

The court heard how Kent, 23, had not been in trouble since 2010, while Terry, of Olive Avenue, Newton Flotman, had 10 previous offences for theft between 2009 and 2015.

James Burrows, mitigating for Terry, who is aged 25, said: 'He has quite a chequered past and he is aware that will not go in his favour.

'He has been blighted with homelessness since his teenage years.'

Mr Burrows said Terry committed the offence as he had 'zero income', adding it was 'fairly opportunistic'.

'It woke up the entire neighbourhood who looked out of their window and saw what they were doing,' Mr Burrows said.

Sara Cator, chairman of the bench, said magistrates' were looking at a 'completely different' set of circumstances between Kent and Terry.

Kent was given a 12-month conditional discharge, while Terry received a 12-week prison sentence, suspended for 18 months.

Terry, who appeared in the dock wearing a black T-shirt, must also carry out 100 hours of unpaid work and pay a £115 victim surcharge.

He was warned that if he broke the conditions of his requirements he could expect to serve a prison sentence.