A DRUNKEN former jockey who pushed his way into a stranger's bed wearing just his underpants and a T-shirt is today awaiting his punishment.Harold Ballantine, who worked on the racing scene until 1995, knocked on the door of a complete stranger at 3.

A DRUNKEN former jockey who pushed his way into a stranger's bed wearing just his underpants and a T-shirt is today awaiting his punishment.

Harold Ballantine, who worked on the racing scene until 1995, knocked on the door of a complete stranger at 3.10am on Thursday morning.

He barged his way past the frightened woman and got into her bed - where police later found him without his underpants.

Ballantine, 50, pleaded guilty to using violence to enter the house and kicking a police officer during a struggle to get him out of the bed.

The woman's house is on London Road, Ipswich, and Ballantine said he knew her from when he did gardening work at a neighbour's house. The woman denied knowing him.

James Terry, defending Ballantine at South East Suffolk Magistrates' Court on Saturday , said: "This is amusing on one hand but I appreciate the lady must have been horrified.

"The defendant went to the bed simply with a view of sleeping there and I think he is now ashamed of what he did."

Ian Duckworth, prosecuting, said: "The victim refers to Mr Ballantine as rambling and talking rubbish and said he pushed past her and went upstairs.

"When the police arrived he didn't respond to their requests and when they pulled the duvet off him he thrashed out and kicked one of the officers on the leg."

Ballantine, of no fixed address, works washing up in a pub in Sproughton.

He has been released on bail and will be sentenced by magistrates on Wednesday, December 1.

The chairman of the bench said: "Unlawful entry into someone's house and assaulting a police officer is the sort of behaviour we can't just give a fine for."