A teenager burglar who battered a pensioner as she sobbed in her armchair begging him to stop was jailed for five years on Friday.

Stephen Blyth, 19, left Doris Sharp beaten and bruised after breaking into her home in the dead of night and repeatedly punching her while demanding her bag - which contained only £29.50.

Newcastle Crown Court heard how when the weeping pensioner begged her attacker to stop she was told to shut up - or he would hit her harder.

The 77-year-old diabetic had fallen asleep in front of her TV when she heard a noise at around 2pm on June 7 last year.

Blyth, who had got into the widow's home at Wenlock, Biddick, Washington, Tyne and Wear, through an open bathroom window, immediately started attacking the frail pensioner.

Prosecutor Jane Waugh told the court: "She would guess he punched her around six times. "She was sitting initially but then tried to get out of the chair.

"At that point the defendant put both hands around her neck, saying 'where is your bag?' and 'where is your money?'.

Mrs Sharp, whose husband died 10 years ago, then showed the intruder where her keys were so he could leave the house."

Mrs Sharp was taken to Sunderland Hospital after the attack with her left eye completely closed due to bruising and swelling.

She also had bruising and swelling to her right eye and bruising to her forehead and the bridge of her nose.

Blyth was caught due to a finger print found on the bathroom window which he had climbed through to gain access to her home.

He pleaded guilty to burglary. Roger Moore, defending, said Blyth had been consuming "enormous" quantities of alcohol and drugs.

Judge John Lodge sentenced Blyth, of no fixed abode, to five years in a young offenders institute.