A NEWLY married couple awoke to find an intruder next to their bed while they were on honeymoon in Turkey.

Adam Powell chased the man, who was carrying a screwdriver, out of their villa.

But the 44-year-old, of Cox Green Road, Egerton, broke both his heels in the frantic pursuit.

Mr Powell and his wife Nadine were a week into their dream twoweek holiday in Ovacik, Turkey, when they awoke at 5am to find a man armed with a screwdriver, undoing his trousers next to their bed Mr Powell, aged 44, who works as a support worker for disabled people, leaped out of bed and chased the offender out of the villa, jumping over fences and through gardens for around 150 yards—without stopping to put clothes or shoes on.

But the chase ended when the criminal, aged in his 30s, escaped over a fence. Mr Powell tried to keep up but fell to the ground in agony after jumping over a fence and falling down an eightfoot drop, breaking his heels as he landed in his bare feet.

He suffered a split heel bone in his right foot and a small fracture in his left foot and has been signed off work for six weeks.

The suspect escaped with £400 of Turkish lira but dropped his screwdriver and lost a trainer during the chase.

Mr Powell said: “He was absolutely terrified.

I was just hurling abuse at him.

“I think about what I did and it is just bizarre how adrenaline can carry you. It is completely out of character. If he had turned around with a screwdriver I could have been dead.

“If I had caught him I would have held him down until the police arrived. I just wish I had caught him. I feel like a hero because everyone is saying I did well.

“I was screaming like a mad man after — the pain was absolutely horrendous.

I was sitting on the ground naked, crying.”

Mr and Mrs Powell met as teenagers at Smithills Grammar School but after three years together they parted ways until they met again through Friends Reunited around 10 years ago. Mr Powell added: “It doesn’t matter at all about my heels. She is my missus. I chased her 29 years ago and I would do it all again. I love her to bits.”

Mr and Mrs Powell’s friends John Eden and Lucy Robbins, who were with them for a week of their honeymoon, slept through the robbery.

The group flew home last Friday.

Mrs Powell, aged 42, a managing consultant in Bury, said: “I wasn’t surprised about what he did.

It is very like him to be the knight in shining armour.

“He is always going around sorting out problems.”

The robbery has not put Mr and Mrs Powell off Turkey as they have bought an apartment a mile from the villa and plan to return in October.