A judge has praised a man who foiled a burglary and helped to catch the criminals.

Tim Aldous called police after he spotted two men acting suspiciously outside a detached house. He kept officers informed as the burglars flagged down a bus in Pulborough and got on it.

Mr Aldous, 39, followed the bus until police stopped it and arrested the culprits.

At Hove Crown Court yesterday Judge Anthony Niblett commended Mr Aldous' public-spirited actions.

The judge said he should be awarded £250 from public funds and an official commendation.

He will receive the money and a citation from the High Sheriff of West Sussex at a public ceremony.

Mr Aldous, who lives near Arundel, said he was not prepared to stand by and do nothing when he saw the men at the house in Lower Street, Pulborough, on August 15.

He said: "I saw two chaps acting suspiciously at the house. They realised the house was empty and obviously decided to burgle it.

"I called the police and gave them a running commentary.

"The men flagged down a single-decker bus by standing in the road. It had to stop and they got on it. I could see they were laughing and joking and were thinking they had got away with it."

Paul Morris, 28, and Dean Clarke, 19, were ordered off the bus and two bags they had with them were searched.

Property from the house was recovered, including four passports, bank cards, mobile phones and keys to the house.

Police also found 320 euros in notes stuffed down the back of Clarke's boxer shorts, which had also been taken in the raid.

Bridget Norfolk, prosecuting, said Morris had also stolen a gold bracelet, cash and bank cards in a burglary at a house in Bognor on July 17.

Clarke, of Bayford Road, Littlehampton, and Morris, who had just been released from prison, admitted burglary at an earlier hearing and were sentenced yesterday. Morris was jailed for three years and Clarke was given two years in a young offenders' institute.