AN elderly woman caught a burglar brazenly drinking a cup of coffee in her kitchen, a court heard.

Ivan Ferenc tried to talk his way out of the house by claiming he had stopped thieves breaking into the pensioner’s car and even alleged he worked for the police.

At Bolton Crown Court, Ferenc, 22, was jailed for two years and three months after pleading guilty to the burglary on June 12 and assaulting a police officer who arrived to arrest him.

Alistair Reid, prosecuting, told the court how the 78-year-old victim had met Czech-born Ferenc three weeks earlier when he had called at her home in the School Hill area of Bolton asking to borrow £10 for a taxi.

The widow ended up lending him £50 after he told her he had to collect his partner from the airport.

But Mr Reid said that at 8.30am on June 12 the pensioner walked into her kitchen to open the door for her cats and was shocked to find Ferenc there drinking a cup of coffee.

“He said two people had tried to break into her car and he had intervened and tried to stop it,” said Mr Reid.

He then walked into the pensioner’s living room and sat down.

“Mr Ferenc effectively made himself at home, putting his jacket over the victim’s bag,” said Mr Reid, who added that the pensioner later found money missing from her purse.

Ferenc asked the woman for a drink but she pointed out that he already had one.

“She began to be suspicious of the defendant’s presence and motives,” said Mr Reid.

She asked him aboutreturning the money she had lent him but he turned the conversation round to asking her for information about her bank accounts.

When she told him she was calling police, he pulled out a business card and claimed he worked for the police force.

And when PC Fay Dixon arrived to arrest him, he became violent, kicking her several times in the knee.

Officers found a keyring with a picture of the victim’s late husband on it when they searched him, and £29.75 which he is believed to have stolen from the widow’s purse. In interview, he continued his lies, claiming he had been at the house to collect a package of drugs.

Kimberley Morton, defending Ferenc, of Venice Street, Daubhill, said explanations of how he came to be in the widow’s home were largely nonsense.

Mrs Morton said that five months ago Ferenc had lost his job at Park Cakes and had found he could no longer afford to buy heroin.

“He has stated he is sorry and ashamed of himself,” said Mrs Morton.

Judge Timothy Stead sentenced Ferenc to two years and three months in prison and ordered him to pay £29.75 compensation to his victim.

The judge told Ferenc: “This court intends to protect both elderly and vulnerable householders and police officers who are doing their duty.”