Raider Andrew Donoghue ran from the Dulsie Road, Bournemouth property when the victim woke up at midnight.
The same man was also found inside a property in Rosemount Road in Bournemouth.
Donoghue, 38, of Suffolk Road, Bournemouth admitted two charges of burglary and was jailed for four years and four months when he appeared before Bournemouth Crown Court.
At around midnight on Monday September 21 last year the occupant of a home in Dulsie Road was asleep when they woke to find an intruder going through the drawers in their room. The man ran out of the room and out of the front door.