A QUICK-thinking caretaker trapped a burglar in a mill — by sealing the only exit with a nail gun.

Simon Jayne, 44, was carrying out a routine check of Albion Mill, Ewood, when he heard a suspicious noise. Immediately, he leapt into action following the sound to a window.

There he came face-to-face with an intruder. In a split second, Mr Jayne set to his creative solution.

Taking a nail gun he had with him, he fired 12 nails into the wooden door next to the window. It was the only exit and the intruder was trapped.

Police arrived minutes later and arrested Julian Minochiu inside the mill.

And following the incident on Friday, Minochiu, 29, of Wensley Road, Blackburn, pleaded guilty this week to burglary and was ordered to do 100 hours unpaid work.

Officers praised Mr Jayne for his actions which allowed the swift justice to be carried out.

Mr Jayne said: “When I heard banging coming from the canal side of the mill and at first thought it was the usual pigeons.

“I peered in through one of the windows and came face to face with the man inside who was wearing a head torch and looking back at me.

Many a time I’ve been called here to deal with break-ins, but never caught someone in the act before.

"I just acted instinctively and literally ‘nailed’ him.

“I bet the guy was surprised, but he didn’t try and escape."

When police entered the disused mill they found several bundles of copper pipe and eventually discovered Minochiu hiding under a bath.

Mr Jayne said after the police had taken away Mr Minochiu on Friday afternoon, he continued to check inside the building and found a second intruder hiding in a roof space.

He said: “He’d been there for a while. I just chased him out.”

Mr Jayne, from Burscough, who has worked for the Pendleton Leisure for five years and is employed to keep an eye on the empty building, admitted he did consider whether he’d done the right thing.

He said: "You hear about stories where people have been accused of false imprisonment.

“But the police said I had made the right response at the time not to tackle him."

Sergeant Paul Schofield praised Mr Jayne: “While we definitely don’t encourage members of public to get involved in tackling crime and offenders, his quick thinking actions have assisted us in this case.

“He has kept the offender there allowing us to search the premises and make an arrest.

“Sometimes you hear about ‘have-a-go heroes’ coming off worst in these situations - and that’s not what we want.

“But he has done a good job on this occasion.”

The spinning and weaving mill operated from 1856 before closing due to a lack of orders 1975.

In recent years the site had been used by community groups. It shut to the public in 2008 amid reports the mill was to be turned into flats by a developer.