A BRAVE woman has told how she chased away two masked men who were raiding her Cadnam home.

Sasha Ridd, 22 today, described the moment she saw the intruders on the stairs and thought: “I’m not going to let them burgle my house.”

The men, both wearing balaclavas, ran through the three-bedroom chalet bungalow and fled through a back door.

One of them tried to keep the door shut to prevent Sasha from following, but she forced it open and pursued them down the garden.

She reached the main road behind the house and stood screaming for help as the burglars ran down the street.

Several motorists realised what was happening and either stopped to help or set off in pursuit of the criminals.

Police arrested a man found in a nearby field but a second suspect was understood to be still on the loose last night.

Sasha, of Old Lyndhurst Road, Cadnam, said her ordeal began when she returned home from work just before 1.30pm yesterday.

She said: “I opened the front door and heard a stumbling sound, which was odd because I knew no-one was at home.

“I saw two men running – or in one case falling – down the stairs and demanded to know what they were doing in my house. They didn’t say anything but one of them looked at me with an ‘Oh my God’ expression on his face.

“I just chased them – I don’t know what came over me.”

Sasha and one of the burglars wrestled with the back door for several seconds as he tried to prevent her from leaving the house.

“I managed to prise it open and followed them down the garden,” she said. “One of them tripped over a low fence at the end and they both ran down the road as I stood on the kerb, screaming for help.

“I had a panic attack and couldn’t control myself – it was horrible.”

One of the motorists travelling along Romsey Road, Cadnam, gave chase and another also set off in pursuit after doing a U-turn.

Police used sniffer dogs and a helicopter to scour the area, including the grounds of the Le Chanteclerc restaurant and fields between Romsey Road and the M27 motorway.

Sasha broke down as she described her ordeal and was comforted by her mum, Marie Ridd, who also lives in the property.

Marie told her: “You’re very brave. I’m very proud of you.”

Sasha, who works at a nearby petrol filling station, was taken to Totton police station to make a statement while forensic experts examined her home.

She said: “The only part of the house they turned over was my bedroom, which makes it even more horrible. They’ve been through my tops, my underwear and my jewellery.

“I’m going to be pretty shaken up for a while. I won’t want to go back to an empty house because I don’t know what I’ll find.”