A frail pensioner may have spent up to 24 hours cowering in a utility room after finding an intruder ransacking her home, police said today.

The 86-year-old woman, who is not being named, was discovered dehydrated, bruised and on the floor of the brick building by her family.

Police believe the pensioner confronted the intruder at her house in Rudyard Avenue, Stockton on Tees, Cleveland, and was so terrified by her ordeal that she may have spent up to 24 hours cowering in the outhouse.

The woman, who has been heavily sedated by doctors, was too traumatised to speak about her ordeal and detectives are waiting at her hospital bedside.

Her home had been ransacked and was being examined by scenes of crime experts.

The alarm was raised at about 8pm last night after members of her family discovered the elderly woman on the outhouse floor.

She was taken to North Tees Hospital for treatment for dehydration, bruising and mild pneumonia.

Detective Sergeant Guy Newnam, from Cleveland Police, said: ''It may well be she was so terrified by what has happened she has spent 24 hours hiding in that brick outhouse.

''But until she recovers sufficiently to speak to us, we cannot begin to piece together what has happened.

''She has been badly traumatised by this terrible ordeal.''

Police want to speak to people in the area who may have seen anyone acting suspiciously over the last few days.

The officer said it was possible someone had been selling from door to door and he was keen to speak to anyone who may have had dealings with them.