A BURGLAR was caught inside a house by the owner, a court was told yesterday.

Nick Crane, 33, was returning home with his fiancee after a night out when they found the front door would not open.

He went in through the back door and discovered the front was bolted from the inside. Then he saw the burglar on the landing.

He was able to hold the raider in a headlock until police arrived, said Dan Cordey, prosecuting at Teesside Crown Court.

David Ransom, 23, a heroin addict of Castleton Road, Stockton, was jailed for three-and-a-half years after he admitted the July 22 burglary in Temple Street, Stockton, and an unrelated offence of dangerous driving, for which he received a 12-month ban.

Ransom had ten gold rings in his pocket, while a holdall found nearby contained CDs and computer games. Mr Crane's £2,500 laptop computer was missing.

Ransom told police the house had already been burgled when he went in under threat from a man to whom he owed £40 for heroin.