A burglar who disrupted a funeral after breaking into a church and helped himself to cakes has had his jail term cut on appeal.

Prolific offender, Alex Kritikos, 41, already had 30 convictions for burglaries to his name when he raided a Methodist church and a home in Sprowston on the night of June 20.

Dismayed churchgoers later discovered that cakes in the church hall kitchen, prepared for a funeral wake, had been eaten by Kritikos.

He had also broken into a house and stolen car keys, enabling him to ransack vehicles.

When he was caught, Kritikos, of Sale Road, Norwich, said he had been looking for money to 'self medicate' with drink and drugs.

He was jailed for 19 months, after pleading guilty to the two burglaries at Norwich Crown Court in August.

The judge said Kritikos had 'eaten' the funeral cakes and caused toddlers to miss a church play group for two days because of the damage he caused.

At London's Appeal Court, however, Kritikos's lawyers asked Judge Jeremy Carey to cut his sentence, claiming it was far too tough.

Despite his record, he had been out of trouble for a long time, they argued.

Judge Carey, sitting with Lord Justice Holroyde and Mrs Justice Nicola Davies, said: 'The judge did indeed give too much weight to the previous offending, given the relatively long period of non-offending.

'We therefore allow the appeal, and impose a total sentence of 14 months in place of the sentence of 19 months.'