A TERRIFIED pensioner who woke to find a trouserless intruder in her home had to lock herself in an outside toilet as she feared she would be attacked.

The 87-year-old tried to flee from the house to raise the alarm but found her back gate locked and was forced to seek refuge in the toilet, a court heard.

Bungling burglar Darren Russell was so drunk he kept falling over when his trousers slid down during the raid, and later could not remember breaking in.

The petrified victim used her mobile phone to make a 3am call to her daughter from the toilet while career criminal Russell rummaged around inside.

Teesside Crown Court heard yesterday (Friday, May 10) how the daughter rushed to the house in the Eastbourne area of Darlington but could not find her mother.

Opening the door, she heard a man saying "you old bastard" and was then confronted with Russell whose trousers kept falling down to expose his underpants.

He was said to look drunk and dishevelled with plastic wraps around his ankles, and claimed he had been tied up when challenged about being there.

Prosecutor David Crook said: "She was in fear her mother might have been attacked, and was fearing the worst until they searched the premises."

The pensioner was taken to hospital after being found short of breath, and described the scene inside her home as "looking like a hurricane had hit it".

Boxes had been opened and tipped out, photographs and paintings were damaged, and a watch which once belonged to her late sister was missing.

Fingerprints matching Russell, 42, were found at the scene, and when he was later arrested, he told police: "I bet this is about when I had that drink."

He had downed a bottle of vodka and when he sobered up after returning home, said his sister told him he had lost his clothes and was dancing in the back yard.

Russell, of Hargreave Terrace, Darlington, has 138 offences on his criminal record and had been out of prison just ten days before the break-in.

Locking him up for two years, Recorder Mark McCone told Russell: "Since the age of 17, you have constantly been committing offences of dishonesty.

"You have received many custodial sentences, although never a long one. At the age of 42, most people have given up crime and given up going to prison, but you seem to be continuing it with steel."

Prosecutors accepted Russell, who admitted burglary and criminal damage, did not deliberately target the house, knowing it had an elderly occupant.

Defence barrister, David Lamb, said: "Although he has a significant antecedent history, he has never behaved in such a shameful way in the past.

"He is remorseful and ashamed that his actions resulted in an elderly lady becoming extremely frightened. He is now fearful for his own safety when he is released.

"His family has effectively disowned him, no-one has visited him while he has been in custody on remand, and he is not sure where he is going to live upon his release."

Mr Recorder McKone told Russell: "I accept that you were extremely drunk. That's borne out not just from what you say but from your bizarre behaviour.

"It was your decision to get drunk, and once you were drunk you stole items of property. Your drunkenness will be of little comfort to the 87-year-old victim."