Pensioner scares off burglars with a bugle Photo: GETTY

Telegraph  UK-Alex Wade, 78, hid behind a door and gave the two men a "short sharp burst" when they crept past.

The bachelor, who lives alone, keeps the homemade instrument on his pillow for "emergencies".

He said the burglars, who broke in through a downstairs window at 2.40am on Wednesday, ran off empty-handed.

Mr West, from Coventry, West Midlands, even tried to chase them in his pyjamas, but the thieves managed to get away.

His courageous actions have been praised by West Midlands Police and led to the arrest of two men.

Mr West said: "I was lying in bed and heard the front window smash and heard people talking.

"At first I thought I was dreaming. I keep a bugle by my pillow in case anything like this happens so I reached over and grabbed it.

"I went to my bedroom door. I yelled into the hallway 'who's there?' and then the two little scoundrels started talking among themselves.

"I opened my door and walked into the hallway and blew the bugle as loud as I could into one of the lad's faces.

"He looked absolutely startled and they both panicked and raced out the front door."

The retired factory worker made the bugle from an old-fashioned car horn after a spate of break-ins in his neighbourhood.

He said: "It's is the best burglar alarm a man can have. Now the neighbours will always know if I'm in trouble."

Detective Inspector Bob Petipher, of West Midlands Police, said: "This was an instinctive action from the man which has caused the offenders to flee the scene.

"It prevented any more possessions being taken from the house and they were swiftly arrested."

Two men aged 21 and 30 have now been charged with burglary and will appear at Coventry Magistrates Court on April 1.