An outraged husband, who headbutted, punched and kicked a burglar he caught inside his Bridge home, has been praised by a judge for showing "admirable restraint!"

The brave father had confronted weirdo Finbar Shirley who told him callously: “I’ve just strangled your wife!”

The 24-year-old burglar then coolly walked away, leaving the wife lying unconscious on her bedroom floor after the terrifying break-in.

Now Judge Simon James has praised the husband – who we are not naming for legal reasons– after hearing how he and his son chased after Shirley.

The couple sat in the public gallery at Canterbury Crown Court to listen to the judge tell physics university student Shirley, of Meadow Close, Bridge: “When confronted by the husband, you coolly and callously informed him that you had just strangled his wife, who lay motionless on the floor.

“You then walked from the property with her, for all you knew, dead on the floor of her own bedroom.

“In such circumstances I consider (the husband) showed admirable self restraint in the frankly horrifying circumstances he was confronted with.”

Then he jailed Shirley, who has had no previous convictions, for six years after he admitted causing grievous bodily harm during a burglary,

Prosecutor Ian Foinette told how the couple had been out at a concert for the evening, leaving their children being cared for by a family member.

“They arrived home at 11pm and the mother checked on the children and then the couple enjoyed a glass of wine before falling asleep on the sofa.

“Between 2 am and 2.30 am the couple awoke and the mother decided to go for a shower before going to bed. When she looked towards her bedroom she could see a pair of legs hanging over the bed.”

The prosecutor added that initially she thought it might be one of her children, but then realised that a stranger was sitting on the bed.

“She asked him:’What are you doing?’, at which point the defendant went towards her and put his hands around her neck and began to strangle her and she was unable to cry out.

She began thrashing out because she was unable to breathe.

“She grabbed a glass and tried to hit the defendant’s head by throwing it at him but missed and was unable to remember what happened after that, “ he added.

It was then the husband came into the bedroom to find with his wife on the floor next to Shirley, and asked: “What the f*** are you doing? Get out of my f****g house!”

“The defendant then calmly walked downstairs and told the husband: “I have just strangled your wife!

"The husband then head-butted Shirley and chased him down the road, catching him and asking if he had “touched “ any of the children in the house? He then punched and kicked him before returning home, “ he added.

Police officers arrived and Shirley was arrested and gave a bizarre account how he had been boozing all afternoon and evening and after being barred from a nightclub arrived outside his victim’s home.

He then sat in the family cars “as he wanted to see what kind of people owned them” and then broke into the house to see “how the family lived”...weirdly even taking off his shoes so he could prowl around.

Shirley said he panicked when the wife arrived and strangled her so she would pass out and not remember her before he escaped.

He gave police a bizarre motive for his urges to get into property but claimed he would never steal.

“I have just strangled your wife!" - Finbar Shirley

The judge told him: “I am entirely unsurprised to hear that this senseless and violent attack has resulted in severe and long-lasting psychological harm to all of your victims.”

Simon Taylor, defending, said it had been an aberration which “has had significant and devastating consequences and he had been regarded, prior to the incident, as a “ a kind, caring young man” who had worked for the community, working with the elderly and helping with the annual Poppy Appeal.

But the judge said that drink had caused Shirley to "act in this unpredictable and frankly inexplicable way" and he could exhibit "bizarre and dangerous behaviour" in the future.