Woman used child's bike to attack fleeing burglar

Kenneth Wylie admitted his sixth house burglary

A burglar who was attacked with a child's bike as he fled from a house he raided has been jailed for two years and seven months.

Kenneth Wylie, 37, was halfway over a woman's garden fence in Gateshead with a bag of loot when she tried to stop him running away with her possessions, Newcastle Crown Court heard.

Wylie, who was later identified thanks to a fingerprint he left on a washing-up bottle, had to drop his rucksack to escape, the court heard.

He admitted dwelling burglary, the sixth on his criminal record.

The woman was awoken by the sound of a door opening shortly before 03:00 BST on 1 May, prosecutor Saba Shan said.

She went downstairs to investigate and found her kitchen light on and items strewn across the floor, the court heard.

'You can have it'

The woman then saw a man carrying a rucksack in her back garden and she gave chase, Ms Shan said.

As Wylie was straddling a fence in a bid to escape, the woman picked up a child's bike and swung it at him, the court heard.

She also managed to wrench the bag away from him with the burglar shouting "you can have it" before he managed to get away, the court heard.

Police matched a fingerprint from a bottle of washing-up liquid he had moved to the defendant, who had a history of similar crimes, the court heard.

In a statement read to the court, the woman said she no longer felt safe in her own home.

Wylie, of no fixed abode but previously of Shipcote in Gateshead, was arrested several days later at Charing Cross rail station in London, the court heard.