FIREFIGHTERS freed a suspected burglar from a ventilation shaft of a pub yesterday after he spent the night stuck inside.

The alarm was raised by a drayman who heard the man's cries for help as he made a delivery at the Twin Farms, Kenton Bank Foot, Newcastle, at 6am.

The trapped man told the driver he had been trying to rescue a cat and had become wedged in the shaft at about11.30pm the previous night.

A fire brigade spokesman said: "We lowered a rope down and told him to put his foot in the loop and managed to slowly winch him up.

"It was bit like a cheese grater because all the sharp bits from inside the pipes were sticking into him.

"He was shouting and swearing as he was brought up as his skin was scraping off his knuckles. But he didn't suffer serious injuries."

A police spokesman said the 20-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of burglary, and was helping with their inquiries.