A BURGLAR who raided a garage belonging to an off-duty policeman escaped by using a trampoline to vault over a six-foot fence, a court heard.

Gary Windsor, 25, was disturbed by police inspector Nicholas Wattam when he ransacked his garage on October 13 last year, and ran off, using the 15-foot wide trampoline to bounce over the large fence.

But he was soon caught because details of his address were in a rucksack which he dropped as he escaped.

York Crown Court heard yesterday how heroin addict Windsor was out of prison on licence when he burgled the garage, in Harrogate, to fund his habit.

Windsor claimed he had ended up in the policeman's garden after running away from four people who he said were chasing him. But the officer said he would have heard them if that was the case. After examining his garden Insp Wattam found a cordless drill, worth £50, which Windsor later claimed he had grabbed to ward-off his pursuers.

Windsor pleaded guilty to burglary at an earlier hearing. He was sentenced to nine months prison in addition to part of the previous sentence he must now serve.