WHEN 17-year-old athlete Luke Franklin returned home to find his mum confronting an intruder, he knew there was only one thing to do.

Jumping over five fences, he chased burglar Peter Gaughan, forcing him on to a railway track and into the River Thames, where police found him covered in mud.

On Wednesday, Gaughan, of Falcon Close, Blackbird Leys, Oxford, admitted two charges of burglary at Oxford Magistrates’ Court. He was remanded in custody and will be sentenced at Oxford Crown Court later this month.

Yesterday, Luke’s mum Sandy Franklin, 44, of Kennington Road, said her son was her hero for confronting the 25-year-old serial burglar, listed as one of Oxford’s most prolific offenders.

The mum-of-four arrived home on Monday afternoon to find Gaughan in her kitchen.

She screamed: “What the hell are you doing in my house?”

The burglar had already taken the keys to Luke’s Honda Civic and had left it running in the drive.

Inside was a 42in television, a brand new laptop and the family’s eight-month-old miniature poodle Mitzy.

Even though Mrs Franklin was dressed in a skirt and sandals, she was chasing Gaughan when Luke returned from college on his moped.

Luke, a keen footballer and runner who wants to be a firefighter, hurdled five fences to chase down the burglar.

Mrs Franklin said: “Luke was brilliant – he wasn’t afraid at all. When I think about it now, he could have had a knife for all we knew.

“Luke just wanted to get him on the floor. He is definitely my hero. I was so angry. The thought he had been in our bedrooms freaks me, and to lose Mitzy would have shattered the whole family.”

Luke, whose legs are now covered in cuts from brambles and barbed wire, said: “I didn’t even think about it. I was running through the gardens trying to get him.”

With nowhere left to turn, Gaughan jumped on to the railway tracks behind the house.

Meanwhile, police headed to the area to cut him off.

Minutes later, PCSO Stephen Hall, who was cycling by the Thames at Sandford, saw a man stripped to the waist lying on the bank by the River Thames.

He said: “He was wet, covered in mud and had cuts and grazes on his arms and legs. He had his hands over his face and seemed half asleep.”

Challenged by the officer, Gaughan jumped in the river, but after wading around in waste-deep water for five minutes with nowhere to go, he gave himself up.

Chief Insp Andy Boyd, of Thames Valley Police, said: “This is a great result, thanks to the bravery of a 17-year-old and the initiative of one of our officers.”