A PUB burglar ended up in hospital after passers-by, alerted by the publican’s wife, battered him.

The victim discovered hard-faced intruder John Conroy above The Ship public house putting two laptops in a back pack.

When she challenged him he cheekily claimed to be the landlord and she ordered him to put the computers back which he did and then went downstairs to the pub hotly pursued by the victim.

On nearing the exit door she bravely grabbed him and started screaming for her husband.

When he got to the exit doors he wriggled out of his jacket and fled down the street directly opposite, said Paul Blasbery, prosecuting.

“Everything became a blur for her but she could hear people shouting. He was pursued by members of the public who attempted to detain him and he was clearly injured during the struggle. An ambulance was called and he was taken to hospital.

“Police officers attended the hospital and arrested him and he tried to discharge himself and ripped a cannula out of his arm. He was advised to stay and complete his treatment,” said Mr Blasbery.

When interviewed he claimed he had gone upstairs to buy cocaine and while there a woman told her dog to “get him."

Liverpool Crown Court heard that in an impact statement the victim said that they had only been at the pub for seven weeks and had been happy.

But now she cannot settle and is “nervous all the time. He had no right to come into my home.”

40-year-old Conroy pleaded guilty to the burglary at the pub in Market Street, Hoylake on September 21 this and another sneak burglary at a post office near Southampton on May 24 last year where cash totalling £18,000 was stolen by him and a co-accused.

Conroy, of Tolpuddle Way, Kirkdale, Liverpool, has 37 previous convictions, including burglaries, and had been jailed in June last year while on bail for the post office raid.

Jailing him for a total of three years Judge Alan Conrad, QC, said that he has a bad criminal record for dishonesty, a lot because of his drug addiction.

Charles Lander, defending, said that Conroy had received “summary justice” from the passers-by who caught him and his injuries were still evident when he appeared at the court on an earlier occasion.

He had made progress while in prison serving his last sentence and had gone down to Southampton as his mum had had a triple heart-by-pass but then got involved in the post office offence.