A CROOK caught red-handed in the middle of a burglary hurled furniture through a window and leapt through the broken pane to escape.

He made his bid for freedom after being cornered by father-of-two Nick Blackett.

Mr Blackett and his wife, Pamela, moved to Raine Street, Bishop Auckland, County Durham, seven months ago with their children, aged three and 11, because their previous property had been broken into.

So when Mr Blackett, a store manager, came face to face with a thief trying to escape through his front door in the early hours of Saturday morning, he was determined he would not going to get away.

"I came downstairs after hearing noises," he said. "I caught him trying to get through the front door.

"He must have assumed the keys would be in the front door, so I shouted at him to get away from the door. He didn't, so I went and got the Hoover attachment.

"He had his hands up and kept saying, 'I'm just hiding from the bizzies'."

At that moment, Mrs Blackett fell down the stairs and while her husband was distracted, unable to decide whether to help his wife or catch the burglar, the intruder went into the living room and barricaded himself inside.

Then, picking up a wooden stool he smashed at a double-glazed window and leapt through the broken pane.

Mr Blackett said: "Everything was piled up in the living room ready to go."

Mrs Blackett said: "Last time they took my diamond earrings that I had got married in. This time they took my wedding ring and a watch Nick had got with money left to him when his granddad died."

Police at Bishop Auckland are investigating