AN ELDERLY Wrexham woman’s home was ransacked while she was ill and being treated in hospital.
The victim’s family had not felt able to tell her what had happened, Mold Crown Court was told.
Stephen McCard, of Forest Road, Llay, was said to be homeless and penniless at the time following his release from prison.
Initially McCard, 30, denied being at the Llangollen property or that he had stolen anything but he was spotted on CCTV carrying items.
McCard was forensically linked to tools left at the scene, and a footmark at the window sill at the point of entry was linked to his trainer, said prosecutor Emmalyne Downing.
He admitted burglary and was jailed for 12 months, which he must serve consecutively to a five-month prison sentence he is already serving.
Judge Niclas Parry told him: “You were a desperate man, I accept that, but you entered the home of an elderly, ill lady.”
McCard, he said, had entered every room and there had been an untidy search.
“If she had seen the mess you left she would have been dreadfully shocked,” the judge said.
Stephen Edwards, defending, said McCard had come out of prison and was homeless and penniless.
McCard had an appalling record, said Mr Edwards, but he was not a house burglar. It was not a pre-planned offence.
McCard was someone who had spent most of last year in custody and was hoping to make 2013 a better year.