A DRUG addict burglar tried to strangle a policewoman during an attempt to escape from Basingstoke police station.

Kasey Rolfe, 22, of St Peter's Road, Basingstoke, was this week locked up for four-and-a-half years for the attack on WPc Melanie Gaskell and a series of burglaries in the Basingstoke area.

Prosecutor Michael Selfe described how the attack drama unfolded while Rolfe was in police custody on July 21.

Rolfe (pictured) told WPc Gaskell that he wanted to make a phone call. She was escorting him out of his cell towards the phone when he attacked her.

Mr Selfe said: "He suddenly grabbed the officer around the neck using a cord from his tracksuit. She managed to put her hands between the cord and her throat."

The pair fell to the ground and the policewoman managed to push the panic button, summoning other officers.

Mr Selfe said: "When she fell to the floor, she was crying and shaking."

WPc Gaskell was left with marks after the attack and found it difficult to swallow. Mr Selfe said she had "feared for her very life".

Rolfe, who had no previous convictions for violence but one for a non-dwelling burglary, appeared for sentence at Winchester Crown Court. He admitted attempting to strangle the policewoman and attempting to escape from custody, pleaded guilty to four house burglaries in the Basingstoke area and asked for seven others to be taken into consideration.

Mr Selfe said Rolfe would go to houses during the day and see if there was anyone in. If the house was empty, he would break in and take items that he thought he could sell. The property he took during the raids added up to an estimated £10,000.

Ian Lawrie, defending, said Rolfe had developed a £50-a-day heroin addiction.

He added: "Every day, he would wake up feeling the consequences of withdrawal. He'd go into Basingstoke and try his chances at finding a house to burgle."

Mr Lawrie said that when his client went into custody, he was in withdrawal and came up with the "crazy" idea of using the cord from his tracksuit bottoms to get the officer to let him out. He said his client did not have a clear recollection of what happened, but now had a "palpable sense of regret".

Sentencing Rolfe, Judge Thomas Long-botham said the burglaries were serious and the attempt to strangle the officer was extremely serious.

He sentenced Rolfe to 18 months for each of the burglaries, to run concurrently. He also sentenced Rolfe to a three-year consecutive sentence for attempting to strangle the officer and gave him a six-month concurrent sentence for attempting to escape from custody.

After the sentence, Detective Constable Darren Barrett, the investigating officer from Basingstoke CID, said: "This is another set of burglaries committed by a person addicted to heroin.

"The more serious offence of attempting to strangle a WPc while in custody is a clear indication of how this evil drug can alter people's minds. Any assault on a police officer should be taken very seriously by the courts. WPc Gaskell was the victim of an horrific attack in her workplace."

If you have information on burglaries in north Hampshire then call the police's Gazette-backed burglary hotline on 07792 416786.