A father who held a pair of burglars at gunpoint has said he wished he had shot them to stop them escaping.

When pub landlord Simon Thomas found thieves breaking into his home while his children slept, the protective single father reached for his gun.

Experienced hunter Mr Thomas waved his licensed shotgun from his bedroom window and shouted “Don't move”, when he caught the men red-handed at The Anchor Inn, Barcombe, near Lewes.

When police told him they could not get to the scene quickly the men drove off.

Mr Thomas tried chasing after them in his Land Rover but lost sight of them as they drove through Barcombe.

Mr Thomas, 45, said: “If push came to shove I would have fired the gun.

“In some ways I wish I had done, to stop them.

“Both of my children were asleep in the house and protecting them was my priority.

“I don't want people to think I'm some gun nut, but I was prepared to do pretty much whatever it would take to protect my children.”

Describing the moment he felt compelled to protect Toby, 14, and Holly, 12, he said: “I couldn't believe what was happening. One of them was loading the bikes into his car and the other was breaking into the conservatory.

“I'm a firearms man and have been for 25 years, so I went to my cabinet and got out a shotgun.

“I opened the bedroom window and shouted out 'Don't move. I've got a loaded gun on you'.”

Mr Thomas kept the shotgun pointed at the burglars as he told them he had called the police, even though he had not.

The terrified burglars pleaded for mercy and claimed they thought the building was empty, then started unloading the family’s bikes from their car.

Mr Thomas went back into the house, dialled 999 and put his gun safely back in the cabinet.

He said: “I called the police and they told me they didn’t have anyone available to come over right away but to put the gun away so I did.

“When I went downstairs, they were getting the bikes out of the car and drove off.”

Sussex Police said they were called to The Anchor just after 2am last Saturday but that by the time officers arrived, at 2.50am, there was no trace of the offenders.

A spokeswoman said: “The call was graded for immediate response. Officers arrived as soon as possible but were responding to other calls at the time.”

Lewes CID is still investigating the attempted burglary, but so far neither of the thieves have been caught.

Anyone with information should call Sussex Police on 0845 6070999.