A woman has told of the terrifying moment she was confronted in her own bedroom by a burglar wearing a mask. The 27-year-old was sitting in her room when Jamie Fitzgerald burst in uninvited.
She screamed, which sent Fitzgerald, 35, running from the flat, before she locked herself in her bathroom along with her sister. She later discovered that he had stolen her TV and laptop, Manchester Crown Court heard.
In an emotional victim personal statement during Fitzgerald's sentence hearing, the woman said she has been left feeling anxious. She is on edge every time she hears a noise in her flat.
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“Seeing him standing there, all masked up, made me feel sick,” she said.
“I still can’t believe there are people like this. To know my sister was in the house at the same time, I was scared and worried about what was going to happen. I had to lock myself in the bathroom out of sheer fear.”
Fitzgerald, of Salford, went on to flog the goods, worth £1,400, to fund his drug habit.
Pleading guilty to burglary, and separate offences of assault and breaching a restraining order, he was yesterday (December 20) jailed for three years and three months.
Prosecuting, Brian Berlyne said the woman lived in the ground floor flat in Salford along with her husband and her sister. At around 8.45pm on October 10 last year, her husband was at work and her sister was in the bathroom when Fitzgerald opened her bedroom door.
“She saw a man dressed in black and his face was covered by a mask,” the prosecutor said.
“She, naturally, was terrified and screamed, and he then turned and ran out of the room. She ran to the bathroom and locked herself in there with her sister, fearing the man was still in the flat, whilst she called the police.”
Officers later found Fitzgerald’s fingerprints on the door frame of her bedroom door. He was arrested and interviewed and told police he was on drugs at the time and entered through the back door which was unlocked.
He said he stole the TV and the laptop and put them in his car which was outside the house. He added that he returned to the flat and was looking for other items when he was disturbed and ran off.
The court also heard that on November 26 of last year, Fitzgerald breached a restraining order and punched his former partner after they had both been drinking at the same pub unexpectedly.
They had shared a taxi home, during which an argument developed and she got out early to avoid further confrontation. But Fitzgerald joined her, continuing the row, which resulted in him punching her in the face and pushing her to the floor.
Later that night he turned up at her house, despite being prohibited from going there by a court order, and repeatedly knocked on her door for two minutes. Two days later he went back to her house and banged on her window and front door.
Fitzgerald was said to be a ‘third-strike burglar’ after committing a number of burglary offences within the last 10 years. He also has previous convictions for domestic violence against his ex-partner.
Defending, Claire Brocklebank said her client wished to move away and have a ‘fresh start’.
“This woman was in her own home, in her own bedroom at night and the bedroom door opens and in walks a man dressed in black wearing a mask. Terrifying,” Recorder Neil Usher said during his sentencing remarks.
“In her personal statement, she said she had never been as scared in her whole life - it was petrifying to see a man all masked up come into her bedroom, it made her feel sick.”
Fitzgerald, of no fixed abode, was jailed for three years and three months.
He was also made the subject of a restraining order, banning him from contacting his ex-partner for five years.
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