A HAPLESS thief is lucky to be alive after sending a 165,000 volt shock through his body as he tried to steal copper cable from an electricity sub-station.

Anthony Dewing suffered horrific injuries and was in a hospital's intensive care unit for a fortnight after the near-death drama in County Durham.

Emergency crews were called to the former cement works in Eastgate, Weardale, to a report of a man hanging upside down from the sub-station.

When paramedics arrived, there was no trace of the suspect, but they found two transformers had been tampered with and a blood-stained hacksaw.

Teesside Crown Court heard yesterday that sections of earthing cable had been cut after the intruder sliced through a perimeter security fence.

It was not until three months later - after Dewing had numerous operations - that they tracked down the 31-year-old to his home near Middlesbrough.

Forensic evidence found on the hacksaw linked him to the bungled theft, and the former electrician claimed it was his first attempt at stealing cable.

Prosecutor Rod Hunt told the judge, Recorder Mark McKone: "Having almost blown himself up, he is obviously very lucky to be alive."

Paul Newcombe, mitigating, said: "It was a life-threatening incident and the scars on his arms and hands bear testament to the dreadful effects.

"They are effectively chewed up by the voltage which went through his body . . . it should be a salutary lesson to anyone else who is tempted."

Mr Newcombe asked the judge to consider a suspended prison sentence as Dewing had recently started to win his battle against drug addiction.

But because the one-time soldier burgled the home of a pensioner while he was on bail for the attempted theft, he was jailed for 20 months.

Mr Recorder McKone told him: "What has been said by Mr Newcombe has persuaded me to substantially reduce the length of that prison sentence."

Dewing, of Sowerby Crescent, Stokesley, admitted attempted theft and burglary and breaching a suspended jail term imposed in 2010.

The court heard how he sneaked into the pensioner's flat in Guisborough, east Cleveland, and locked himself in as she put her bins out.

The startled victim shouted at him to come out, but he said he was looking for a cat and then for his missing mobile phone, said Mr Hunt.

Police arrived and had to batter down the door, and found Dewing - high on drugs - hiding in a cupboard, holding a finger to his lips and saying "sssh".

Mr Newcombe said the father-of-one and former amateur boxer took illegal substances "to get out of his head and forget his troubles".