Premiership: Ferguson burglars get 15 months

Two men who burgled Everton striker Duncan Ferguson have been jailed for 15 months.

Michael Pratt, 23, and Barry Dawson, 22, admitted breaking into Ferguson's home, a converted barn in Lancashire, in January.

The pair stole a framed picture, CDs and bottles of expensive Champagne from the former Scotland international's home, Preston Crown Court was told.

Ferguson was not in court to hear that he received minor injuries and that Dawson was treated in hospital after the break in, which happened when the footballer was at home at night with his wife Janine and their six-month-old daughter.

Judge Anthony Procter told Pratt and Dawson: "There is no way you can be called hardened criminals but we are dealing with a burglary at night when the house was occupied.

"I have to look at the effect on the householder.

"Mr Ferguson may give the impression of being a hard man, but it is clear he was shaken by this incident, primarily for the effects on his wife and young child.

"A celebrity is entitled to the same protection as everyone else. I have no option but to give you a custodial sentence, in each case 15 months

imprisonment."