MUM WOKE UP TO FIND BURGLAR IN HER ROOM

Serial criminal jailed for string of break-ins

- By ADAM EVERETT

A WOMAN was left cowering under her bedcovers for what “felt like a lifetime” after she woke up to find a burglar at the foot of her bed.

Ian Thompson crept into his victim's bedroom as she slept and rifled through her belongings dur-ing one of a string of break-ins.

The mum initially believed that she had been woken by her hus-band returning home from work in the early hours, but instead cried, “what the f***” and was left with her “heart pounding” after being greeted by the sight of the complete stranger “glaring” at her. This week, she implored a judge to “throw away the key” over the “petrifying” incident.

Liverpool Crown Court heard on Thursday that Thompson first struck on October 14 last year at an address on Warwick Avenue in Crosby, which Colin Carrington had called home for 40 years. He and his wife had left the property at around 5.30pm on that date before returning at 7.45pm to dis cover that one of their windows had been smashed by an intruder, who had helped himself to sweets, gin, and a handbag after gaining entry.

Oliver Saddington, prosecuting, described how the next break-in occurred at the home of Marie Brown on Arnside in Litherland on October 25, 2024. Her husband had left to go to work at about 4pm before she went to bed at around midnight.

But Mrs Brown was then woken at roughly 5.45am when the light in her bedroom was turned on. She initially believed that her part-ner had returned home and was “about to shout at him for waking her up”, but instead discovered Thompson at the foot of her bed.

The defendant, who was appearing in court on the day before his 51st birthday, was said to have been rummaging through drawers at this stage, before the occupant shouted, “What the f***” At this, he “looked at her and walked out of the room”.