A 56-year-old disabled Dundee woman slept as an intruder climbed in through a window and stole her possessions in the early hours of the morning.
Wheelchair-bound Kathleen Clark was unaware she had been robbed until she was woken by police who themselves had to climb into an open window to rouse her.
The culprit, 21-year-old Gary Gibson, of Thurso Crescent, was caught by police nearby carrying her possessions in two bags.
He appeared in court from custody on Thursday and was jailed for eight months and ordered back to prison to complete 85 days from a previous sentence.
After being told of Gibson’s sentence by The Courier, Ms Clark, of Blackwood Court, said she was happy to see the culprit off the streets.
“Maybe he should have got a wee bit longer but it’s a relief to know that he’s been caught,” she said. “I don’t think that he’ll be thinking about damage that he has done, though.
“I had an operation not long ago and I was just beginning to get back to normal. Then something like this happens.”
Ms Clark woke to the sight of two police officers by her bed. Her living room window had been buckled by the force used as the thief entered, allowing police into the ground-floor flat.
“It was very scary to wake up and find two police officers standing at my bedside,” she said. “They told me that I had been broken in to and I asked how they had got in.
“They said they had climbed in the window.”
Gibson admitted that, on September 28 in Blackwood Court, he broke into the house occupied by Ms Clark and stole a quantity of prescribed medication, a wooden box containing change, a mirror, a handbag and its contents including a set of car keys, while on bail.
Depute fiscal Trina Sinclair told the court that among the items stolen was £50 in cash. She said Ms Clark had gone to bed the previous evening and her possessions were in the living room.
At 3.05am the following day, police received a call regarding a man who was acting suspiciously, leaving the garden of the house. He was wearing a white top.
Police quickly attended and he was traced in the nearby Ninewells Avenue, carrying two bags which contained Ms Clark’s possessions, including a bank card and cheque book. Officers went to her house but could get no answer at the door and had to climb in the open living room window.
They found Ms Clark sleeping and woke her to alert her.
“She was unaware of what had gone on,” Ms Sinclair said.
After she identified her property, Gibson was arrested and taken to police HQ.
Solicitor Michael Short said both he and Gibson accepted the accused faced a custodial sentence as he had breached several community-based sentences in the past. However he appealed for Sheriff Mundy to consider placing him on a drug treatment and testing order (DTTO) to address his addiction to valium.
He said Gibson had found the window open as the weather had been so warm and said he had not caused it any damage.
He added: “He’s a nice person when he’s drug-free a terrible person when he’s on the valium.”
He told the sheriff it would be easy to impose custody but said the more difficult choice, but one which would serve the public and Gibson better, would be to give him the chance of a DTTO, which he was willing to undertake.
Sheriff Mundy told Gibson: “The only option in this case and in view of your record is a custodial sentence.”