A JUDGE has praised the bravery of an elderly couple who found a burglar in their bedroom in the dead of night.

Simon Wray was stealing items from a drawer when he disturbed a Mr and Mrs Hogan at their home in St Mary's Road, Poole in the early hours of July 8 this year.

Bournemouth Crown Court heard that Mr Hogan chased 20-year-old Wray through the flat and grabbed his leg as he tried to escape through a kitchen window

During a struggle, Mr Hogan pulled off Wray's shoe but the offender managed to flee, the court was told. He was arrested five days later after his fingerprints were found at the scene.

Wray, of no fixed abode, pleaded guilty to burglary. The items

stolen were a purse, a wallet, keys and a mobile phone.

The judge, Mr Recorder Llewelyn Sellick, told Wray: "Mr Hogan showed great bravery in chasing you. He clung on to your leg for as long as he could."

But the judge said he believed the worst part of the offence to be the effect it had on the victims.

"Both have been made extremely nervous. It is quite clear they both feel more vulnerable as a result of what happened," he said.

"That is the inevitable effect of when someone like you decides to break into someone's home in the dead of night when they are asleep in their beds."

Defending, Ross Weeden said Wray is a vulnerable young man who has had "severe problems throughout his life".

He added: "He has written a letter to the elderly people involved and he is remorseful. He truly wishes to change his ways."

Wray was sent to a young offenders' institution for 15 months.

First published: Oct 1