A BURGLAR who led police on a rooftop chase was jailed today (Monday, June 30).

Nathen Andersen took to the tiles to try and escape after being caught in the backyard of the property he had just burgled.

Teesside Crown Court heard Andersen amashed his way into his victim’s Thornaby home with a wooden plank in March this year.

Prosecutor Ian Mullarkey said the victim was watching television when he heard a noise and dogs barking at the back of his home.

Fearing he was being burgled, he fled upstairs and called police.

Mr Mullarkey said: “From upstairs he saw a man in a grey tracksuit run into the living room.

“Having waited a few minutes, he heard him leave and went back down, noticing his rear window was smashed and the back door was open.

“A tin containing £15 and his house and car keys were missing.”

When Andersen – whose address was given as HMP Durham - spotted police, he shinned up a drain pipe and tried to escape over the roofs of neighbouring properties, refusing to surrender.

Eventually arrested, he told officers he had gone to the property to buy cannabis and when unable to, he took the stolen items as a ransom.

Jailing the 28-year-old for two years, Judge Peter Bowers told him: "You have a bad record and were only released from prison in February, your reports make dismal reading and you are unable or unwilling to change what you are doing and seem determined to go on in the same way.”