AN off-duty policeman grabbed a pair of burglars when they smashed their way into his partner's shop at 3am, a court was told yesterday.

Teesside Crown Court heard how PC John Dennison, of the Durham Force, and his partner Jill Moorhead, were in the flat above the shop when they were woken by the burglar alarm.

PC Dennison ran downstairs and saw two men removing cigarettes.

He pinned them against the wall and they struggled to free themselves.

He took Shaun McKerry, 19, in a headlock, but Michael Collier, 24, threw punches at him in an attempt to get away.

Collier punched PC Dennison in the eye, causing swelling and bruising, said Kate Dodds, prosecuting.

The officer was momentarily stunned and the burglars ran from the shop.

McKerry was arrested three weeks later when he was identified from a fingerprint on a binliner abandoned at the scene.

Collier was arrested two weeks after that and admitted the assault on PC Dennison.

In court he pleaded guilty to assault and to the burglary of Jill's Newsagents, in Hope Street, Crook.

McKerry pleaded guilty to burglary.

Both men were serving other sentences when they appeared in court yesterday.

Collier, of Wood Street, Spennymoor, was sentence to 18 months prison consecutive to a previous 15-month sentence for burglary and theft.

McKerry, of Benbow Walk, Coundon, was sent to a young offenders' institution for 15 months concurrent with a prison recall from a 26- months sentence for house burglary.