A plucky pensioner confronted a hooded burglar as he ran down her stairs after rifliing through her belongings.

When retired Pat Doman unlocked the front door of her house in Stanley Road, Ashingdon, after a trip to Southend’s Tesco, she didn’t initially notice anything was wrong.

It was only after the 67-year-old had turned off the house alarm that she heard a huge thump from upstairs and realised she wasn’t alone.

Seconds later, she was shocked to see a man running down her stairs, who then stopped in front of her as she stood just feet away.

She said: “As I put in the key to the door, I noticed the alarm was already beeping but I thought perhaps it was just sensitive on that day.

“I went to disarm the alarm when I heard a big bang upstairs.

“I ran out into the hallway and he was coming down the stairs - we ended up facing each other. I knew he was a burglar immediately, I didn’t recognise him.

“I said ‘What the hell are you doing in my house? Get out.’ “He turned and went out the way he came in - through the back patio door, which was smashed.

“He was about three feet away from me and when I shouted back, he looked just as shocked as I was.”

Following the confrontation, Mrs Doman said she was left shaken up and unable to sleep.

The grandmother-of-15 said: “I was shaking like a leaf afterwards, it’s the stuff of nightmares.

“This man could have had a knife and could have killed me. I couldn’t sleep that night thinking about it.

”To be in the house the same time as a burglar was terrifying.”

She described the burglar as aged between 18 and 22, white, of slim build and wore distinctive black glasses.

He wore a black hooded top with the hood up and blue jeans.

He had smashed his way in through the lead-lined patio door and crawled through the hole as he made his way out.

Neighbours with CCTV cameras have since come forward with footage of the man driving up in a white Ford Focus just after 11am, getting out of the car and then leaving about four minutes later.

Anyone with information about the incident, which occurred at about 11.10am on Thursday, can call Essex Police on 101.