I have a method in a class trying to return a pointer:

<?php
public function prepare( $query ) {
    // bla bla bla

    return &$this->statement;
}
?>

But it produces the following error:

Parse error: syntax error, unexpected '&' in /home/realst34/public_html/s98_fw/classes/sql.php on line 246

This code, however, works:

<?php
public function prepare( $query ) {
    // bla bla bla

    $statement = &$this->statement;
    return $statement;
}
?>

Is this just the nature of PHP or am I doing something wrong?