Former Premier League footballer Shaun Newton has been spared a jail term for burgling a flat in south-London after he told the court he believed he was taking part in a treasure hunt.
The 41-year-old, who is best remembered for spells with Charlton Athletic and West Ham United had not slept for two days, was drunk and had cocaine in his system when he was caught by police.
According to London's Evening Standard, Newton told the court the incident was part of his 40th birthday celebrations.
I was in some treasure hunt or I thought it was.
It was a long weekend and I was tired and disorientated and confused by the tricks that were played on me at the time.
I was led to believe there was a car, a Range Rover or whatever, and I was hunting for it. I pulled apart my whole house looking for keys.
There were things in my house leading me to number plates, stuff like that and I was led to believe I had to do certain things like breaking glass.
Newton, who is a former England Under-21 international, was sentenced to 100 hours of community service after he was found guilty.
In 2006, Newton missed West Ham's FA Cup Final against Liverpool. He tested positive for cocaine after the semi-final with Middlesbrough and was subsequently banned for seven months.
It's not the first time Newton was found guilty in a court. In 2008, he was convicted on nine counts of attempting to pervert the course of justice, over a speeding ticket scam, while he was at West Ham.
Teddy Sheringham and Bobby Zamora, who were both teammates of Newton at the time, were both cautioned over the incident.
