A dad chased a would-be burglar out of his house in the early hours of the morning.

James Alan was getting ready for work on Friday, February 10 at around 3am when he heard his front door open on Mornington Road in Heaton.

Mr Alan, 44, immediately rushed to the door to find a man in his front room.

He then chased out the intruder who had managed to enter his home.

The scary moment was also caught on the family’s CCTV and Mr Alan called the police.

He had left the door open as he was due to leave the house to go to work.

Mr Alan, who trains drivers for a logistics company, said: “It made me feel really angry that people are trying to take things that people work hard to provide for their family.

“I knew it was a burglar with it being that time of the morning and the family in bed upstairs.

“He had gotten into the front room, and he literally sprinted back out the front door. He was very, very fast at running.”

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Luckily, nothing was taken from the house at the time but Mr Alan says he is worried that it could have been a lot worse if he had not noticed at the time.

He said: “There is a lot of this going on at the moment around this area.

"Cars and houses being broken in to.

“We called the police a little later not straight away. My partner was upset and had deep concern about the safety of her family."

Since the incident, the family have now installed CCTV outside the house to safeguard their children and belongings.

Mr Alan said: “I feel safer now as we have just had installed full CCTV cameras to the house with 24/7 monitoring.

“I feel extremely lucky that I was up as I’m not usually awake at that time.”

Mr Alan also praised the police for their support after the incident but said more police presence may also be needed to prevent incidents like this occurring again.

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He said: “The police were really good and have now a zero tolerance and attend every burglary.

“Since January a lot more of the residents have installed cameras to their properties.

“But with the cuts the police are doing the best they can and have put in a higher police presence over the last week since the incident.”

Greater Manchester Police has been approached for a comment.