'Blind' Manchester burglar led police in river chase
- Published
Paul Gibson was jailed at Carlisle Crown Court
A man who is registered blind led police on a chase through a river after being caught red-handed burgling a derelict school.
A police officer found Paul Anthony Gibson taking metal from the old school near Appleby on 24 August.
When the officer attempted to handcuff him, Gibson, 55, leapt over a nearby bridge into a river to try and escape.
He was jailed at Carlisle Crown Court for five months after admitting burglary and resisting police.
The court heard the officer found metal piled up outside Eden Grove in the village of Bolton along with hacksaw blades and a lantern.
Inside the now-closed residential school for boys, he found Gibson who had an "armful" of illegally taken metal pipes.
Judge Tony Lancaster heard the defendant, of Arundel Street, Swinton, Manchester, was registered blind and had 191 previous offences to his name.
He was homeless at the time of the burglary having just been released from prison.