OAP TELLS BURGLAR: 'YOU'RE NICKED!'

Prolific offender Ian Munkley was ordered to sit down and wait for the police to arrive after being tackled by 86-year-old Gwyneth Davies in the kitchen of her home.

When police arrived at the scene shortly afterwards, Merthyr Crown Court heard that officers told the pensioner: "You've done the work for us, you've caught him."

He pleaded guilty to one count of burglary.

Prosecutor Chris Lewis said Mrs Davies, who lives alone in Treharris, South Wales, had retired to her downstairs bedroom at about 11pm on April 10 of this year.

After hearing a noise, she got out of bed and found 26-year-old Munkley in her kitchen.

"Others may have stayed in the bedroom worrying about what was happening," said Mr Lewis. "Not Mrs Davies. She opened the door and, recognising him after he had done some odd jobs for her, promptly battered him four times with her crutch."

Mr Lewis said the pensioner feared for her safety and her life during the episode but nevertheless chastised the defendant and ordered him to sit down and stay put while she telephoned the police.

"The defendant, for reasons best known to him, said 'I love you, I love, give me a kiss,'" said Mr Lewis. The court heard he then broke down crying after Mrs Davies repeated her assertion to dial 999.

Munkley was given a two-year prison sentence, less the 67 days he has already spent on remand.