A BURGLAR fled when his victim called out to nearby workmen for assistance, York Crown Court heard.

Jason Armitage Greenheld, 31, had just broken into a house in East Mount Road, York, and picked up the woman's handbag, said Nigel Wray, prosecuting.

When she confronted him inside the house, where she worked as a cleaner, he claimed he was "nobody" and continued to walk from room to room.

But she saw that he had her handbag and called out of the front door to workmen in the street. They immediately answered her call and he fled out of a lounge window.

Greenheld, of Lincoln Street, off Leeman Road, York, pleaded guilty to burglary.

Judge Jim Spencer placed him on a 12-month drug testing and treatment order saying he committed crimes to fund a heroin habit.

Tony Kelbrick, representing Greenheld, said he had spent nine months on remand while awaiting trial for robbery, a charge of which he was acquitted.

Updated: 10:48 Saturday, July 12, 2003