SHE put a retired police officer in hospital with a heart attack and he twice raided his father's neighbours.

Now their baby will be born behind bars as its parents-to-be, Leslie Ann Brolly and Mark Anthony Ellerby, start prison sentences Both burgling drug addicts were jailed on the same day by the same judge, though they did not appear in the dock together at York Crown Court.

Prosecutor David Garnett said Brolly struggled violently when ex-policeman Geoffrey Meehan spotted her raiding his flat in August after he had helped her look for a lost earring in the block of flats. She threatened to burn down his home with him inside.

"He was public spirited enough to stop you even though he was no match for you. You were younger and fitter than him," said Judge Stephen Ashurst. "Such was his condition and such were the circumstances that he suffered a heart attack and had to be admitted to hospital. Goodness knows what his partner thought when she heard he was in casualty. He was in hospital unable to breathe and requiring medical attention.

The judge said "Inevitably your child is going to be born in custody." He hoped she would be able to care for her child after her release..

Brolly, 27, who is six months' pregnant, admitted burgling Mr Meehan's flat and a sneak-in theft of a 76-year-old pensioner, both in north York, and was jailed for three years and three months.

Mr Garnett said she conned the pensioner by asking to use the facilities - and then snatched items when her back was turned.

Ellerby, 32, admitted burgling the man who lived next-door to his father in Redgrave Close, York, and a night-time burglary in the same street in defiance of bail conditions a few months later. He was on a suspended sentence for one of the burglaries and was jailed for two years including three months previously suspended. Both lived in Aberford House, Lowther Street, The Groves.

Mr Garnett said alert eye-witnesses alerted police to Ellerby's raids.

Glenn Parsons, for Ellerby, and Andrew Semple, for Brolly, said the burglars hope caring for their future child will help steer them away from crime. They were remorseful for their crimes.