Woman locks intruder in garden shed

16:01:20 29th January 2010

A disabled woman has told how she locked an intruder in her garden shed, keeping him there until the police arrived.

Eileen Burke, who is partly blind and has arthritic knees, confronted the six-foot intruder after she found him trying to steal food one evening.

The Somerset resident used a garden fork to back him into the garden shed and then successfully locked him inside.

"I don't know how I didn't just have a heart attack on the spot but I just grabbed the garden fork from the shed door and told him to stay where he was," said Mrs Burke.

"He seemed quite scared and kept saying 'please don't hurt me'."

Sergeant Andy Murphy has praised Mrs Burke for her actions, stating she made a "brave decision".

The 59-year-old lives alone, but the incident happened when her neighbour Jean was visiting.