A BURGLAR who attacked a householder on Christmas Eve has been jailed for two-and-a-half years.

Daniel Thorpe, 22, was high on a cocktail of sleeping tablets, anti-depressants and heroin substitute when he broke into a shed and a house - and stole nothing more than two keys and a tape measure.

A court was told yesterday how householder Edward Catron went to investigate after hearing a noise in his garden shed just before 6.30am on Christmas Eve and was punched in the face.

Thorpe had wrapped a metal tape measure around his hand before attacking Mr Catron, leaving him with a deep cut to his cheekbone.

Other members of Mr Catron's family helped detain Thorpe at the home in Ash Grove, Loftus, east Cleveland, until the police arrived.

Thorpe was granted bail after being questioned, but in April he broke into the Loftus home of a 91-year-old dementia sufferer while she was in care.

Blood found at the scene linked Thorpe, of St Michael's Close, in nearby Liverton Mines, to the break-in.

His barrister, Mike Bosomworth, described the assault as unpleasant and the burglary as serious. He said that Thorpe expected to go to jail because of his long history of offending.

Mr Bosomworth asked for his client to be given credit for entering early guilty pleas and for the "genuine apology" he offered to Mr Catron.

Mr Recorder Simon Bourne Ashton jailed Thorpe for four months for common assault and 26 months for burglary.