A SHOCKED son has told how he switched on a live video feed from the home of his elderly father – to be confronted by what appeared to be an intruder inside his dad’s house.

David Rhodes installed four CCTV cameras at his father John’s home in Nether Poppleton, York, so he could check the 82-year-old was okay.

But last Wednesday David logged on and said he was horrified to see a man he did not recognise apparently searching the property.

"My dad had been at the funeral of his cousin in Stratford and I was phoning him to check how it had gone," explained David.

"He didn't answer, which I thought was strange because he always does.

"I connected to the cameras and saw an image in the living room, which I thought was my dad.

"When he didn't answer again I realised there was another man in the house, so I called 999 and my son and I raced over there in my car."

The image Mr Rhodes saw when he looked at the screen was a man in camouflage trousers, a hat and black jacket.

He said the man appeared to be checking the drawers of his father's furniture. Mr Rhodes said when he got to the house there were also signs that an intruder had  entered the home after smashing a window, opening it from the outside and climbing in.

David, who recently lost his 83-year-old mother, mistakenly believed his father was upstairs in bed while the man was on the ground floor of his father's house, and was met by a police armed response team when he arrived at the property.

They searched the home, but the man had already gone and David was forced to explain what had happened when his father arrived.

"It's a very unnerving thing to happen," added John, a retired doctor.

"I lie in bed at night and wonder if someone is going to come in.

"After my wife's death I've been unwell with food poisoning and have felt a bit frail.

"To have that on top of someone in your home and being able to see a video of that person walking up and down your rooms is quite disconcerting."

Police are investigating whether the unidentified man had a legitimate reason to be in the house so as to rule him out of their enquiries into the alleged burglary.

A spokeswoman for North Yorkshire Police said: "We were contacted at 8.55pm on Wednesday, October 11, 2017, to reports of a burglary in progress at a property in Upper Poppleton.

"Officers are conducting enquiries and would be keen to hear from any witnesses who saw any suspicious behaviour in the area or anyone with information which could assist the investigation.

"Contact police on 101 and select option one to speak to the Force Control Room.  Quote North Yorkshire Police reference 12170182759."