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Emma Steele, aged 20, was devastated to learn that Carl Breen, a person she had spoken to several times at the pub, had broken into her house when she was out babysitting for a friend on June 24.
Breen, a 26-year-old, from Walton, Liverpool, ripped out radiators, the boiler and the emersion cylinder from the walls of her property in Maple Avenue, Grangeway, Runcorn, without turning the water off, Warrington Crown Court heard on Thursday.
Emma said: “He has tortured me, I have to take sleeping tablets now. It was like a building site when I saw it. All the plaster was coming off the walls. There were black marks everywhere, it looked horrendous.
“I can’t move back now – I am scared because he knows where I live.”
Peter Frost, prosecuting Breen, said police were alerted by Elaine Stubbs, a quick-thinking neighbour, who heard loud noises coming from the home on June 24 and saw Breen acting suspiciously.
When Breen was later arrested his feet were soaked with water.
De Los Rios, defending Breen, said her client – who has a catalogue of convictions – had been addressing his heroin problem while on remand.
Judge Stephen Clarke said: “You knew Miss Steele was a single mother with a child of three. She was quite clearly very proud of what she had achieved with limited means.
“Your attempts to get the piping allowed the water supply to cascade all around the house. Her little lad was particularly distraught when he saw his house looking like a bomb site.”
Breen who was wearing an Adidas jacket in court, was given a 20-month custodial sentence after admitting the burglary charge.
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Emma is pleased with the criminal’s sentence but said the trauma from his act is far from over.
She has still not been able to move back home with her toddler Harvey Higgins because of the damage caused.
Her possessions were not insured so she has lost a number of expensive items, including furniture which she bought since moving into the Halton Housing Trust home last August.
Irreplaceable pictures of her granddad Thomas Boys, who died aged 76 just weeks after the crime, were among the ruined items.
She said the housing trust has refused to help, saying it is suitable to live in.
Noel Sharpe, director of customer services for Halton Housing Trust, said: “Following the burglary at Miss Steele’s home the trust fitted new radiators and a central heating system and boarded up the back door, making the property secure to stay in.
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“There has been a delay in fitting the new back door and we apologise for this. It is being installed tomorrow, Thursday.
“We are extremely sympathetic to her situation and understand that being a victim of a burglary is a frightening experience. However, Miss Steele has chosen not to stay in her property and, as a result of the house not being properly ventilated, mould has appeared on the walls.
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