A brave pensioner has told how she grappled with a burglar as he broke into her home - then discovered he was a neighbour.

Edwina Goldsmith, 77, confronted the intruder as he squeezed through her bathroom window.

He had a peaked cap pulled down over his face but she was determined to look at him.

Mrs Goldsmith wrestled with him and tried to pull his cap off as he hung halfway through the window.

It was only when her daughter Penny Lower came in that he looked up and they both realised the intruder was neighbour Andrew Wragge.

A judge praised Mrs Goldsmith's courage as he jailed Wragge, 40, a window cleaner, for 18 months on Friday.

Wragge, of West Street, Seaford, had denied burglary, claiming he was with someone else when the break-in happened at 12.30am on December 4 last year.

But a jury at Hove Crown Court took little more than an hour to find him guilty after hearing Mrs Goldsmith say she was certain it was Wragge.

She sat in the public gallery with her daughter as Judge Cedric Joseph praised her actions.

He said: "We have heard about the part she played in this case and the courage displayed by her. Her bravery is very much to be commended."

Mrs Goldsmith, who suffers from angina and walks with a stick, spoke of her ordeal as she left court.

She said her wheelchairbound husband Frederick, 82, had only just come out of hospital after a back operation.

Their daughter Penny was staying the night and all three had gone to bed early. Mrs Goldsmith said she was woken at 12.20am by the sound of grunting coming from the bathroom as Wragge tried to squeeze through the window.

Mrs Goldsmith went to see what was happening. She said: "There was a silhouette at the window. When I switched the light on I saw a man dangling through the window.

Shouting "He had a peaked cap on and I stepped forward and tried to pull it off. I told him I wanted to see who he was.

"I managed to get hold of it and he was wrestling with me trying to stop me seeing his face. By then Penny had heard the noise because he was shouting leave me alone' and I was shouting that I wanted to see who he is.

"When Penny came into the bathroom he looked up and I immediately recognised him as our neighbour."

Mrs Goldsmith said despite being shocked and shaking, she went to call the police while her daughter held the bathroom door shut.

They heard a thud as Wragge struggled back out of the window and dropped on to the flat roof of their groundfloor extension.

Mrs Goldsmith told police who arrived minutes later that Wragge was a neighbour whose flat backed on to her home in Green Lane, Seaford.

She said: "I knew who he was as soon as I saw his face because we have seen him around a lot.

"He used to say hello to us and offered to help my husband cut the hedge before he was in a wheelchair.

"He told us he was a window cleaner and said we should call him if we wanted our windows doing."

She said she was pleased Wragge had been found guilty and welcomed the 18-month sentence.

She said: "I didn't think I was being brave at the time, I just decided to go for it because I wanted to see who he was.

"I have never done anything like that before and I hope I don't have to again.

"He has been living there since it happened and I was a bit upset for a while when I saw him around but I just ignored him.

"I don't know if he will come back to live here when he is out of prison but I am not going to let him ruin my life."

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