A MAN woke up in the early hours of the morning to find a burglar brandishing a knife at him.

Preston Crown Court heard that when the victim shouted at burglar Peter Jonathan Taylor to leave there was no confrontation.

Instead the defendant ran out of the house in Langdale Close, Blackburn, with the knife, a bottle of whiskey, a Samsung S5 mobile telephone and £170.

But prosecutor Andrew Brown said Taylor’s bid for freedom was short-lived and he was arrested along with his co-defendant John Lee Behan.

That was because the victim's neighbour noticed 39-year-old Taylor and 42-year-old Behan acting suspiciously on the driveway minutes before the break-in at around 1.30am on January 4.

He not only called the police but he also took a video on his mobile phone, which proved to be key evidence in identifying the men as the culprits.

Mr Brown said police arrived seconds after Taylor and Behan had left the driveway and the defendants were spotted a few metres away.

Taylor, of Summerville Walk, Blackburn, had attempted to run away and hide in a garden but was soon found. He was still in possession of some of the items he had stolen.

Taylor pleaded guilty to aggravated burglary. Behan, of no fixed address, pleaded not guilty to burglary but was found guilty after a trial.

Judge Mark Brown, The Honorary Recorder of Preston, accepted Behan had not entered the house but said he was treating the burglary as a joint enterprise.

Defending Taylor, Mark Stuart said his client had not brought the knife with him but found it in the kitchen. But he said he accepted the fact he brandished it made it an aggravated burglary.

Mr Stuart said: “All be it he has a number of burglaries on his record they are not normally house burglaries. This is a bit out of the norm. He shouldn’t have been there. This was out of his league.”

Defending Behan, Nicholas Kennedy said: “The defendant has an unenviable record for offences of dishonesty, particularly burglary. The only observation I can make is that he doesn’t appear to have any knowledge of Taylor possessing a knife or that he threatened anyone.

Taylor was jailed for five years and three months and Behan for four years.

Judge Brown praised the witness and instructed the Divisional Commander to write to him passing on his thanks and those of the Chief Constable.