I was in my bedroom on Saturday when I saw a man of about 40 climbing over my back garden fence, which is 6ft high. I yelled at him and he replied "I am only getting my child's ball".

I ran downstairs and chased him out of the garden, yelling at the top of my lungs that I had a thief in my garden.

The man yelled some insults at me, climbed over the fence and jumped into a car I could not see and drove off.

He did not have time to break into my shed or house and seemed to think that if he said he was looking for a ball it was okay to invade my property.

How can we stop somebody like this climbing into our gardens before he actually breaks into the house?

Since I caught him before he got into the house or shed, I do not think the police will try hard to catch him.

If they do, he will give them the same excuse he tried to give me.

-Name and address supplied