A burglar who was confronted by a mum who was making milk for her baby in the middle of the night has escaped a jail term.

Deshan Chetty said he was looking for somewhere to sleep when he broke into the former home of a friend in the town centre.

But instead he was confronted by the pal's estranged wife as she was getting something for her one-year-old child.

And as he fled the building in the town centre he stole a ball bearing firing gun belonging to her eleven-year-old son.

Colin Meeke, prosecuting, told Swindon crown court how the woman lived at her home in Haydon Street with her children.

In the early hours on Monday August 13 she got up and went to the kitchen to make some milk for her one-year-old child.

When she entered the room she noticed the outside door was open so the scared mum rushed upstairs to tell her older son to call the police.

The woman, who barely speaks any English, went back downstairs and saw a black man leaving the kitchen and recognised him as a friend of her estranged husband.

Mr Meeke said she was not sure how he got into the house but it may heave been though a smashed window which had been reported to the landlord but not repaired.

He said when he was questioned Chetty denied any knowledge of the break in and said he bought the gun even though the lad identified it as his own.

Chetty, of Western Street, pleaded guilty to as charge of burglary.

Rob Ross, defending, said the woman's husband, who had moved away confirmed that he knew his client and he had been to the house a number of times in the past.

Chetty was so friendly with the woman's husband that he even had a cash card for the other man's bank account so he could use it for his wages to be paid into it.

He said he had gone to the house to try and find somewhere to sleep for the night as he had nowhere else to go and panicked when he saw his friend's wife.

Mr Ross said "He picked up the little imitation BB gun and just ran out with it. He can't give any indication why."

He said he was a South African national in the country on a working visa and had a job near Blunsdon with the recycling unit as well as stable accommodation.

Mr Ross told the court "He is ashamed at the upset he has caused. He is not someone who has drug or alcohol problems in any way."

Recorder Neil Ford QC told Chetty to do 80 hours of community service, be on probation for six months and pay £300 costs.