A man who woke to find a burglar looming at the foot of his bed screamed at the crook causing him to flee.

Seasoned burglar Colin Langford then startled a lone woman by pushing his face against a glass pane after breaking into her home.

The 49-year-old was jailed for four and a half years at Canterbury Crown Court after what Recorder Richard Thomas described as a “prestigious record” of burglaries.

“While on licence you broke into the home of a man at night while he was at home.

“You had the gall to carry out that burglary probably knowing there was someone inside, having forced your way in,” Recorder Thomas told Langford.

“You broke into another house in the day time, and this time engaged in a conversation with the occupant.

“It took a considerable amount of nerve to do that.

“It seems you just can’t stop going into other peoples’ houses.”

“Peter Stanfield woke to find a man standing at the foot of his bed going through his jewellery box." - Mr Fowler

The court heard how Langford targeted the first home in Cannon Road, Ramsgate in the late evening of July 10 last year.

After removing his hearing aids to sleep, Peter Stanfield woke to find Langford rifling through his belongings at the foot of his bed.

He screamed at the drug addict causing him to flee, prosecutor Edmund Fowler explained.

“Peter Stanfield woke to find a man standing at the foot of his bed going through his jewellery box.

“He shouted at him, then checked around his house and discovered a smashed window,” he said.

“Police on duty saw a man walking quickly, they pulled over to speak to him.

“The defendant seemed out of breath, he said he was going to a friend’s house and had taken speed.”

A search uncovered a stolen phone belonging to Julie Anderson and watches and jewels stashed in the property’s garden.

Vanessa Bennett heard footsteps too heavy to be her partner’s inside her Chapel Place Lane home in Ramsgate, on the afternoon of May 14 this year.

“She then saw a face pushed up to a window, she got a dog and chased him away,” Mr Fowler said.

Ms Bennett told the court she has been left anxious and feeling unsafe inside her home.

Langford, who appeared via video link from HMP Elmley, asked Recorder Thomas to take two other burglary offences into consideration.

His barrister argued Langford wished to overcome drug addiction and build a relationship with his daughter.

“He knows that unless he tackles his drug problem his future will be very, very bleak indeed,” he said.

Langford, who is of no fixed address, admitting one count of burglary and one of attempted burglary.

Two other burglaries were taken into consideration when he was sentenced.

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