An irate householder has told how he warned a burglar “you’re not going anywhere” when he caught him trying to steal from his Redcar home.
Anthony Hall was left bloodied and bruised after Steve Waterfield dished out his own justice when he caught the burglar creeping around in his living room after midnight.
Former rugby player Mr Waterfield, 48, said: “I was brought up on the Lakes estate, and when you don’t have much you look after things - I was determined he wasn’t going to steal my stuff.
“He said ‘I’m in the wrong house, I shouldn’t be here’.
“I said ‘you’re not going anywhere’. He hit me, so I grabbed hold of him and I gave him what he deserved. It enraged me that he thought he could just come into my house and take my possessions.”
Strapping six-footer Steve played rugby for Redcar alongside his brother Geoff, the union boss known as Teesside’s Man of Steel for his work in getting iron and steel making back to the area.
Burglar Hall, 22, was jailed for three years and four months at Teesside Crown Court last week.
Photographs of Hall’s injuries were shown to Judge Howard Crowson, but he was unmoved and said: “The police are never able to encourage members of the public to act in this way.
“But I’m afraid it’s inevitable that if someone like him finds you in his home and is confronted by you, something like this might happen.
“That’s the risk you take when you go into people’s homes like that.
“You might come across someone who is not prepared to simply lie down and let it happen.”
Mr Waterfield welcomed Judge Crowson’s comments: “I was very pleased with what he said. He got what he deserved. I was worried that he would give a judge a sob story and get a light sentence, but I think this proves that you cannot just walk into someone’s home and expect to steal. An Englishman’s home is his castle.
“I also didn’t know if I would get into trouble.”
Police caught Hall the day after the burglary, which took place in September this year.
Mr Waterfield said he had Hall pinned down by the throat, and caused cuts and bruises by punching him during the scuffle.
But as he looked for his phone to call police, Hall kicked him in the face.
He managed to wriggle free, before a final blow from Mr Waterfield knocked him out of his hallway and into the street.
When police arrived, Mr Waterfield said he thought they would catch up with him by following the trail of blood.
“He was quite worse for wear,” he continued. “He was staggering really badly and couldn’t really run. I thought that he would probably collapse before he got too far away. It took me two weeks to clean his blood out of the carpet.”
Hall, of Tynefield Place, Newcastle, was left with two gashes to his head, a blackened and bruised left eye, a swollen cheekbone and marks to his chin and neck.
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