A MAN came face-to-face with a burglar in the kitchen of his Lye home after his pet dogs raised the alarm.

Burglar Jonathan Cartwright crept in through a back door of the property in Seymour Road, on April 26 last year, while the homeowner was watching TV in the lounge.

His barking pet dogs directed the 45-year-old to the kitchen where he found prolific crook Jonathan Cartwright rooted to the spot.

He chased Cartwright, of Thorns Road, Quarry Bank, out into the garden but lost sight of him after he scrambled over a fence.

However, he gave Dudley detectives an accurate description of the offender − recalling him as "ginger and gaunt looking" − which was enough to point local officers towards Cartwright.

The 32-year-old was arrested on July 22 in connection with a break-in at Netherton Park Family Centre, where two men were shown on CCTV breaking into a shed before fleeing when motion sensors triggered an alarm.

Detectives quizzed him about the Lye burglary and, confident the homeowner wouldn’t be able to recognise him almost two months on, agreed to take part in an ID parade.

But Cartwright's cockiness backfired when the dog-lover emphatically picked him out.

He denied being involved in the burglary but following a three-day trial at Wolverhampton Crown Court, he was found guilty by a jury and jailed for three years.

Detective Constable Sean Lowe, from Dudley Police said: "We know our more prolific offenders inside out and from the description provided, plus the tactic used to gain entry, we immediately suspected Cartwright was the offender.

"The homeowner did a fantastic job to remember Cartwright’s image and immediately pick him out during the ID procedure. He tried claiming he was at home with his partner on the night but couldn’t recall a single detail and his defence was seen through by the jury.

"Cartwright is a prolific burglar and people across Dudley are safer with him behind bars."