A bungling burglar who was chased from an Easthampstead house by a man brandishing a samurai sword has been jailed.

Damian Lewis fled through the house in Mansfield Crescent out into the garden before leaping over fences to get away.

But Lewis was subsequently arrested by police officers investigating a 999 call that he himself had made following an earlier incident.

Judge Paul Dugdale described Lewis’s attempts to burgle properties as an “evening of madness” before jailing the 24-year-old for more than three years.

Reading Crown Court heard that Lewis had made an emergency call, claiming someone had been stabbed after a house party he was at on August 15 this year.

He then left and made his way to Easthampstead where he embarked on a series of  'shambolic' burglaries by shining a light on householder Mr Lynford as he lay asleep in his bedroom.

Sadaf Etemandi, prosecuting on Friday, October 2, said: “Mr Lynford grabbed a replica samurai sword and proceeded to chase the defendant out of the house.

“When he reached the garden he saw the defendant jumping over the fence into the neighbour’s property.”

Mr Lynford’s keys and his wife’s handbag were returned to them the next day after being found by his neighbour.

It was revealed that Mr Lynford has quit his job because he has found it too difficult to sleep in his bed after the intrusion.

Lewis went on to try to break into another house on Beckford Avenue and a garden shed on Milton Close, but he left empty-handed, destroying fences between houses as he jumped from property to property.

Judge Paul Dugdale said: “This was a fairly shambolic effort at burglary.

“You had gone to a small part of Bracknell town and there you have effectively broken into and attempted to break into four properties in an evening of madness.

“I’m sure that you have great difficulties in your life. I’m sure that there are problems that you find hard to cope with and I’m sure that there are a number of things you find difficult.

“But this day is not about you Damien Lewis. This is about the people who are the victims of what you did.”

John Waller defending: “That evening was an extremely problematic evening.

“He had an argument with his girlfriend. He was invited to her house, but his girlfriend told him to leave and this was extremely upsetting.”

Lewis, of Rosedale Gardens, Bracknell, admitted one count of burglary, two counts of attempted burglary and one count of damage to property.