A BURGLAR who fainted when he was caught in a house by the owner was jailed for 40 months yesterday.

Property developer Carl Howe trapped burglar Paul Ponsford behind a lobby door while Ponsford, 27, wailed: "Let me out of here mate, I'm getting seriously claustrophobic."

He was still out for the count when the police arrived to arrest him at the house, in the village of Heighington, near Darlington.

Mr Howe discovered Ponsford after his dog began barking and his wife noticed someone in the front lobby, said Richard Bannett, prosecuting.

The front door was locked and Mr Howe put his weight against an interior glass door to prevent him from escaping, while his wife rang 999 saying that they had caught an intruder.

After Ponsford failed in his plea he suddenly slumped to the floor and was trapped there until the police arrived, Teesside Crown Court heard.

Ponsford told police that he had taken about £40 worth of cocaine when a male friend who he would not name asked him to go on a thieving expedition.

Ponsford said he went into the Howes' house looking for a knife to harm himself, said Dan Cordey defending.

Teesside Crown Court heard that Ponsford said when interviewed: "I just wish I could go up and say sorry to them, but I can't".

Mr Corday said that Ponsford made no attempt to escape past Mr Howe and he caused no damage.

He said: "He has been diagnosed as having a personality disorder. He finds it incredibly difficult to cope with life out of custody and almost as difficult to cope with life in custody. He has spent his time in the prison hospital wing.

"He hopes to spend much of his time in a psychiatric prison. He realises that his life in passing him by and he wants to load a normal life."

Ponsford, of Riverside View, Darlington, was jailed for 40 months after he pleaded guilty to three burglaries in Heighington on November 7 last year.

He also asked for 26 offences, mainly burglaries, to be taken into consideration.