A HOMEOWNER stabbed two burglars after they broke into his house.

The man returned home from a meal in the pub with his wife to discover the burglary in progress at his home.

And the criminals got more than they bargained for when they attacked the victim, as he responded in kind by knifing the pair.

One of the offenders, Patrick Jones, was handed 57 months behind bars on Friday, February 12, over the burglary.

Liverpool Crown Court heard that the couple left their home on Warrington Road in Culcheth at around 6.30pm on March 1 2019 in order to eat out.

When they returned to the address around two hours later they discovered two masked burglars inside, and the husband grabbed a knife from the kitchen and waited for them at the bottom of the stairs.

He stabbed one of the raiders, who were both wearing balaclavas, after he ran downstairs and lunged at him.

The blade was then plunged into the right arm of the second assailant after he appeared swinging an unknown object at the victim.

Jones’ DNA was later found on the knife, with no charges having been brought against the homeowner.

The 29-year-old, of Liverpool, also appeared to be sentenced over a burglary at a garage in Preston in August the same year.

He was part of a gang of four hooded men who forced entry to the premises before taking a car and van belonging to customers of the business.

A replica gun was also stolen during the break-in, but Jones – whose blood was discovered on the key safe afterwards – denies having taken this.

The ‘professional burglar’ committed both of these offences while out on licence, having been released from a lengthy prison sentence in November 2018.

Jones, who admitted two counts of burglary and appeared via video link to HMP Preston, has 20 previous convictions for 71 offences – including an astonishing 34 break-ins, six of which targeted houses.

His latest jail term was ordered to run concurrently alongside a two-year stretch handed in down in summer 2020 following a ‘well planned and highly sophisticated’ burglary at a commercial site in Wiltshire.

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Jones after being arrested over the Wiltshire burglary

While wanted over this break-in, he escaped from police after a high-speed car chase through Cheshire and spent nearly two years on the run before belatedly being arrested.

This means that his previous scheduled release date of February 2023 will only be delayed by a few months.

Sentencing, judge David Swinnerton said: “He has the hallmarks of a professional burglar.

“Since 2003, you have regularly and repeatedly been burgling dwellings and non-dwelling buildings.

“You are well past your third strike – you are very much not a man of good character.”