THREE Bridgwater friends burgled a family home after they discovered it would be empty via a message left on Facebook.

Duncan McGrath-Simpson, Esther Collins and Adam Beard targeted the house in Quantock Road in May after reading a message from one of the occupants, Lisa Wilkinson, about her family's weekend away.

Taunton Crown Court heard on Thursday that McGrath-Simpson, 20, of St Mary Street, was an ex-boyfriend of Ms Wilkinson, and both he and Collins, 19, of Risemoor Road, held a grudge against her.

After reading Ms Wilkinson's message, the pair invited their friend, 22-year-old Beard, of Eastover, for the burglary.

As they broke in, Beard cut himself on broken glass and dripped blood throughout the property, before the trio left with watches, £450 in cash, TVs, power tools, games, games consoles and alcohol.

In mitigation, the court heard the trio, who had all pleaded guilty to burglary, would not have contemplated the crime had they not drunk a large amount of alcohol.

Collins afterwards said she was horrified at what she had done.

Judge Graham Hume Jones said: “The serious matter of burgling a private house is that the owners feel their houses have been defiled. It has a very serious effect on anyone who has been burgled.”

Judge Hume Jones said McGrath-Simpson and Collins were the instigators, and that Beard's mistake was joining them.

He added: “Drink is no excuse, but is an aggravating factor.”

The trio were each given a 12-month prison sentence, suspended for two years, and were ordered to complete 250 hours of unpaid work and pay £600 to their victims.