BURGLAR Paul McDonagh has been jailed for six years after a court heard how he threatened pub landlord Paul Wright and his wife with a claw hammer.

Swindon Crown Court was told on Monday that McDonagh was disturbed as he crept around the bedroom where Mr Wright and his wife were asleep with their young baby at the Bridge Inn at West Lavington.

But when he tripped over a laundry basket trying to get away, he threatened his terrified victims with the hammer.

He fled but a police dog handler who was passing the pub tracked him down to a bungalow in nearby Little Cheverell.

McDonagh, 42, from Moston, Manchester, denied a charge of aggravated burglary but a jury of eight women and four men sitting at Swindon Crown Court found him guilty.

The jury was told McDonagh had more than 100 previous convictions including numerous pub burglaries in the north west of England.

They heard he got into The Bridge after breaking a pane of glass in a door at the rear of the premises.

He then made his way upstairs to the Wrights' bedroom, picking up the claw hammer as he went. The couple, however, woke at about 4.30am to find him there and it was then that McDonagh threatened them.

Stuart Ellacott, defending, said: "It seems clear from the evidence that Mr McDonagh did not go into the pub with the hammer.

"He was not armed on the way in and it seems obvious from the evidence of Mr Wright that the first thought that the man had on being disturbed was flight.

"It was only after he was slowed down when he tripped on the laundry basket, that he made a threat and it was just a threat of violence, not real violence."

Sentencing him Judge Tom Longbotham said "You broke into The Bridge pub and stole a quantity of cash and at the time had with you a weapon, namely a claw hammer.

"At any time this would be a very serious offence but when your record is examined it becomes worse.

"This court is entitled to and does take the view that you are a professional burglar.

"On this occasion you entered the bedroom of Mr and Mrs Wright, the licensees of a pub in a quiet village in Wiltshire.

"Anybody who wakes up in the early hours of the morning and finds someone in the bedroom, especially when there is a young baby in the room, and is faced by someone with a claw hammer who is verbally abusive to them, is likely to be terrified."

The break-in, which took place in the early hours of July 10 last year, was one of a string of raids on pubs in the area.

Personal items were taken from the rooms of bed and breakfast guests at the Churchill Arms in West Lavington and the Stage Post, also in West Lavington, was also targeted.

Mr Wright and his family left the Bridge Inn suddenly in November last year after experiencing financial difficulties.

He has since been declared bankrupt.