A TEENAGER who raided the home of an 86-year-old woman in Accrington has been sentenced to 16 months behind bars.

The victim Jean Midgeley later told police that she felt ‘vulnerable’ about returning home after she had been burgled by 18-year-old Samuel Fielden, Burnley Crown Court was told.

Prosecutor Barbara Webster said Fielden and what is believed to be at least one accomplice walked out of the pensioner’s home with a 40-inch TV, £250 in cash, a rose gold necklace worth £600 and a silver decorative spoon.

The court was told the haul was valued at £1,459 in total and Mrs Midgeley had been forced to replace a number of items out of herself.

Fielden, of Barnes Street, Accrington, who admitted burglary, also had previous convictions for battery and taking motor vehicles without consent, the court heard.

Judge Beverley Lunt sentenced Fielden to 16 months youth custody.

He had also received a community sentence, including an attendance centre requirement, for a non-residential burglary last September.

Miss Webster said that the defendant was caught because he had left a trainer print inside the house and a fingerprint.

Judge Lunt, passing sentence, said: “You didn’t know that this elderly lady would be the victim in this case but that is the risk that you take.

“You don’t know who is in a house and this 86-year-old lady will probably never, for the rest of her life, feel safe in her own home.”

Anthony Parkinson, defending, said his client had suffered problems with his accommodation which had led him to ‘sofa surf’ and hang around people who had led him into offending.

Fielden had left school without any qualifications but had regularly attended and may benefit from outside assistance to gain full-time employment, he added.