three years yesterday despite a plea for mercy by his lawyer.

Defence counsel Elizabeth Christopher spent 40 minutes trying to persuade Chief Justice Austin Ward to impose a community-based sentence on Milton Eugene Dill.

But the judge ordered the prison sentence after hearing 43-year-old Dill ran amok in the couple's apartment at the Pompano Beach Hotel last May.

Dill, of Crown Lane, Warwick, was sentenced at Supreme Court after being found guilty of breaking, entering and stealing at a Magistrates' Court trial.

Crown counsel Lesley Basden said Dill's female victim heard rain and got up to shut a patio door when a voice from the other side of the room said: "No, no, no.'' The lawyer said the woman saw Dill standing by the front door and started screaming, which woke her husband.

Dill then escaped through the patio door, leaving a trail of US banknotes strewn across the room and lawn.

He also left his Suzuki RC100 motorbike parked in a hotel driveway and Police arrested him at his home after taking forensic swabs at the scene and from a black leather jacket and crash helmet left on the bike. Ms Basden added: "Police also seized sneakers and clothing for forensic examination.

"A shoe print left at the scene was consistent with that made by the right foot of the defendant's sneakers.'' She said Dill lied to Police, claiming his bike had been stolen before the break-in took place.

The court heard Dill had a string of previous convictions for breaking and entering but only more minor offences in the past ten years.

Ms Christopher, in mitigation, appealed for a non-custodial sentence so her client could be given residential drugs treatment outside prison.

She said: "The defendant has a history of isolated offences and there has been no offence of this kind in the past ten years.

"Mr. Dill has never had the benefit of a community-based sentence and I would not suggest Westgate is a good place to get residential drugs treatment.'' Chief Justice Ward accused Ms Christopher of putting her client's needs before public safety.

He sentenced Dill to three years' prison with a recommendation that he receives counselling for his drug addiction.