THE widow of a have-a-go hero who died after rugby tackling a drugged-up burglar has said she hopes the man's jail sentence will help him kick his habit.

Eddie Brixton's widow Iris spoke after Michael Cooper, 23, was sent to prison for 42 months.

Cooper, of Barrett Court, Basingstoke, had pleaded guilty to burgling the home of the Brixtons' Camfield Close neighbour. Mr Brixton had spotted Cooper and tackled him, suffering a fatal heart attack.

However, last month, Cooper was cleared of causing the death of the pensioner when a judge ruled there was no case to answer.

At Winchester Crown Court on Friday, Mr Justice David Poole told Cooper: "On May 17 this year, in order to support your drugs habit, you decided to commit a burglary in Basingstoke, a few hundred yards from where you then lived.

"You claim to have been heavily under the influence of a cocktail of drugs at the time. I do not disbelieve you, although it does nothing to mitigate your defence."

After the case, Mrs Brixton said: "The judge was bound by the law when it came to the manslaughter case, but we just hope that this prison sentence is sufficient to get Mr Cooper off drugs and enable him to become a better citizen."

Mr Justice Poole, who made the ruling on the manslaughter case, told the defendant that burgling a home in a residential estate in broad daylight was likely to attract the attention of neighbours, as it did with 76-year-old Mr Brixton.

"He did what any decent man and any decent neighbour would have done to pursue and detain him," he said. "As you now know, it tragically cost him his life.

"You bear no criminal responsibility for his death, but it can hardly be said that you bear no moral responsibility for it and that's something on which you might reflect."

Detective Sergeant Nigel Lee, the officer in charge of the investigation, welcomed the judge's comments.

"The sentence reflects how seriously the court takes burglaries," he said.

Cooper asked the judge to take into account two other offences of handling a stolen credit card and obtaining property by deception.

The court heard that Cooper has previous convictions and cautions for a string of offences dating back to 1995 - including dishonesty, theft, threatening a juror and a number for possessing offensive weapons - some of which have involved violence.

Cooper suffers from a severe personality disorder, and his pre-sentence report said he presented a high risk of re-offending and a medium to high risk of harm to the public.

Prosecutor Nigel Seed, QC said: "It was only a matter of weeks before his offence that he was removed from the potentially dangerous offenders register kept by Hampshire Constabulary."

An attempt to try Cooper for Mr Brixton's manslaughter, before the charge was dropped, collapsed because the defendant had taken drugs and was considered unfit to stand trial.

Ian Lawrie, defending, said Cooper - who has been in custody since the burglary in May - has had to address his misuse of drugs while in prison, and tested negative for drugs twice in December.

He added that the defendant has shown remorse that Mr Brixton died after the burglary.