A burglar who broke into the home of an 80-year-old Kesgrave woman and attempted to burgle the home of a 92-year-old Bentley woman has been jailed for three years.
Sentencing Stephen Vincent Judge Rupert Overbury said: "Domestic burglary is a complete violation of people's personal space."
He said the 80-year-old victim had described being "utterly devastated" by the burglary at her home in Grange Lane, Kesgrave, during which irreplaceable items of sentimental value were taken in March last year.
Before Ipswich Crown Court was Stephen Vincent, 45, of Westwood Park, Colchester, who dmitted burglary in Grange Lane, Kesgrave, on March 15 last year, burglary with intent to steal at a house in Capel Road, Bentley, on March 18 last year and criminal damage to a window at a house in The Street, Capel St Mary, on March 13 last year.
His father Sydney Vincent, 72, of Alderlee, Stoke Park Drive, Ipswich, admitted handling a stolen 1965 Winston Churchill commemorative coin. He was given a two year community order and ordered to do 50 hours unpaid work.
Daniel Taylor, prosecuting, said that on March 13 last year a resident of The Street, Capel St Mary, heard the front door bell ring and repeated knocking.
He then heard footsteps at the side of his house before seeing a man at his back door with a flower pot.
The man ran off after smashing a pane of glass and Stephen Vincent's DNA was found on a piece of concrete nearby.
On March 15, the 80-year-old owner of a property in Grange Lane, Kesgrave, went out for an hour at 2pm and when she returned she found a window at the side of the house had been forced open.
There were muddy footprints on the carpet, an untidy search had been carried out in the bedroom and jewellery and a 1965 Winston Churchill coin had been stolen.
On March 18, a 92-year-old woman was at home in Capel Road, Bentley, when she heard repeated knocking at her front door.
She then saw a man in her conservatory and when she called out to him he ran off.
In a statement read to the court the woman said the incident had left her feeling vulnerable in her home.
The court heard that the stolen Winston Churchill coin was found in Sydney Vincent's car.
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