Brave second year catches burglar after he stole laptop from her bed while she was sleeping

A feisty Ulster second year took the law into her own hands when she awoke to find a burglar trying to steal her laptop, and chased him out of her bedroom.

Ellen Clarke was in her boyfriend’s house when they terrifyingly awoke to a stocky young man trying to take a laptop from underneath their pillows.

The Interactive Multimedia Design student said: “Having being burgled already in my Ulsterville Avenue house last year, I wasn’t for having it happen again.

“My boyfriend, Declan, grabbed his laptop off the guy, pushed him out and locked the bedroom door.

“But in my half-sleepy adrenaline rushed state, I ran out the door and down the stairs after him while dialing 999.

“My boyfriend and his housemate soon followed, and trapped him at the bottom of any alleyway just as the police arrived minutes later.”

The police were there ASAP.

“When they got him, he had two large duffel bags full of all our electric goods: our phones, chargers and headphones.

“He had hidden a TV, bike, guitars and cameras in the bins. He’d even taken our bin bags to carry the stuff in.

“There were Xboxes, Playstations, and other goods that he must have stolen from other houses earlier that morning.”

“It was an eventful Saturday”

Commenting Chief Inspector Robert Murdie told The Tab: “At 9.04am on Saturday 15 November 2014, Police received a report that an intruder was inside a property in the Dunluce Avenue area of South Belfast. Police responded and a 25 year old male was arrested.

“At 9.55am there was a further report from a property in the same area that someone had attempted to gain access by damaging the back door.

“The 25 year old man was charged with Going Equipped for Theft, Handling Stolen Goods, Criminal Damage and Possession of a Class B Drug.”

The class B substance is understood to be Ketamine.

Police have said the man appeared in court on Monday 17 November 2014 and was remanded in custody.

One of the guitars and amp that was stolen

Traumatised by her experience, Ellen says: “It was pretty unimaginable. I probably shouldn’t have ran after him in case he hurt me, but I can’t describe our relief at being able to get our belongings back, and we helped other people out as well.

“I feel like it’s all very fitting in the good deed department coming up to Christmas.

“The police also let us pet the sniffer dogs. All in all, it was an eventful Saturday morning.”