A HOME owner chased away burglars after catching them in his kitchen, a court heard.

Drunken Janine Patterson and two men walked into the house on Eastgrove Avenue, Sharples, on the afternoon of February 11 last year through an unlocked door.

Daniel Calder, prosecuting, told Bolton Crown Court how the householder, Derek Tonge, heard a noise and, thinking his partner had returned home, walked into the kitchen.

He gave chase to the two men who damaged his wooden fence clambering over it, but lost the intruders.

He then confronted Patterson, whom he spotted nearby and who complained to him that the men had hurt her leg when they fell on her.

Nothing was taken in the burglary and Mr Tonge later identified Patterson to police.

Patterson, aged 31, of Horsa Street, Tonge Moor, pleaded guilty to burglary.

Huw Edwards, defending, said Patterson, a former heroin addict, had been drinking on the day of the burglary and had not planned the opportunist crime, although she had gone along with the two others, who have never been identified.

He added Patterson gave birth to a daughter on August 2 and the child remains in hospital amid concerns that she may have suffered brain damage after a difficult labour.

"She is very anxious to prove that she is a fit mother," said Mr Edwards, adding that as a result she is changing her behaviour.

Recorder Ahmed Nadim told Patterson: "Burglary offences are serious and ordinarily people in your position are punished by prison sentences."

However he told her that he "had some faith that, given help and support you need, you are capable of leading a life free of committing offences."

Patterson was sentenced to 20 months in jail, suspended for two years. She will be subject to supervision by the probation service for nine months and must undertake a drug rehabilitation programme.