Detective work by a student after his family home was burgled led to the arrest of a prolific offender, a court heard.

Jacob Marshall followed the intruder, Jason Burgess, but was forced to retreat when he was threatened with a knife.

He then found a jumper Burgess had been wearing. It bizarrely contained another man’s DNA but he was able to tell the police who it belonged to.

Now, Burgess, of St Alban’s Close, Gravesend, has been jailed for five-and-a-half years.

The 41-year-old drug addict, who has a long list of previous convictions, admitted burglary and threatening with an offensive weapon.

He denied another burglary and attempted burglary but was convicted.

Maidstone Crown Court heard Mr Marshall was in his bedroom in St Francis Avenue, Gravesend, on June 15 last year in the early evening when he heard a shuddering noise.

He heard more bangs and went downstairs to investigate. He went into the kitchen and saw an arm reaching through a broken window.

The 19-year-old student shouted at the intruder: “What do you think you are doing?”

Burgess fled with Mr Marshall in pursuit.

He threw a rock at Burgess as he climbed over a fence. Burgess casually walked off but Mr Marshall followed and found him hiding in a bush.

He confronted Burgess but he pulled out a knife and told him to stay away.

“Understandably fearful, he backed off and the defendant walked away,” said prosecutor Trevor Wright.

Mr Marshall called the police. The next day he was walking through an alleyway when he saw the sweater. He put it in a bag and gave it to the police.

Burgess also burgled a house in St Hilda’s Way and attempted a burglary in Winchester Crescent in the town.

He faced a minimum three-year sentence having committed more than three burglaries among 96 previous offences.

Judge David Griffith-Jones QC praised Mr Marshall for his “fortitude and presence of mind”.

He told Burgess: “There is virtually no mitigation. You fall to be sentenced for a depressing catalogue of offences against a background of an equally depressing catalogue of previous convictions for similar offences.

“A sentence of some length is demanded.”