A TERRIFIED woman locked herself in the bathroom after being confronted by a masked raider in the early hours of the morning.

The balaclava-clad burglar had broken in through the patio doors of a house in Goldhanger Road, Heybridge, at about 2am.

When the woman, in her 30s, heard noise coming from downstairs she went to investigate and found a man in dark clothing standing on the stairs.

PC Alan Conran said the woman immediately ran to the bathroom and called police, who arrived at the scene three minutes later.

He said: “The householder came down when she heard us shouting ‘police’.

“She describes a male figure in dark clothing and a ski mask or balaclava covering his face.

“She had heard noise and when she came out onto the landing saw the male on the stairs.”

Mr Conran said there might have been more suspects in the house because the woman heard the man say “there's someone here," before he ran downstairs.

He said on arrival the front door was secure but the rear gate was insecure and the back patio doors had been forced open.

Mr Conran said two police units searched the area but believes the men got away in a vehicle after the incident, which happened on January 27.

Maldon Council leader Miriam Lewis said: “I would have been frightened to death. It’s very worrying if people are being disturbed in their homes like this.

“We want to send out every sympathy to this lady. And well done to the police for getting there so quickly.

“Fortunately she wasn’t injured and we hope that this doesn’t start a trend.

“It’s a very worrying occurrence in a place like Goldhanger Road, because it’s quite a main road.

“If this the start of a trend we need to keep a really close eye on it.”

No property was taken, although damage worth about £200 was caused to the door.

Parish council chairman Michael Edwards said: “As far as we are concerned we haven’t had too many break-ins in the past few months.

“We do have a lack of police here, the whole of Essex is affected by the withdrawing of the PCSOs and the closing of police stations.

“I am glad to hear that a response was quite quick.”