A BRAVE 87-year-old woman who woke to find a burglar in her home tried to lock him in a bedroom and then grabbed hold of a suitcase containing her belongings as he tried to run off, a court has heard.

The pensioner was alone in her semi-detached home in Woodbridge Road in the early hours of Boxing Day when she noticed her landing light was on and heard a noise, Ipswich Crown Court heard.

She got up to investigate and discovered 27-year-old Aivaras Kryzius in a spare bedroom.

Michael Crimp, prosecuting, said: “She closed the bedroom door and put a hook across the door to keep him in there. She returned to her bedroom to call the police but as she did so he pulled the door hook off and ran down the stairs.”

Kryzius went to the front and released a chain and a bolt and was about to leave the house when the pensioner came down the stairs and grabbed hold of a suitcase he was carrying which contained her belongings.

“He used the suitcase to push her backwards and she fell to her knees,” said Mr Crimp.

He said that as a result of the fall the pensioner suffered bruising to her knees.

Kryzius escaped but his victim called the police and he was stopped shortly afterwards in possession of the suitcase.

Kryzius, of Cauldwell Hall Road, Ipswich, admitted burglary on December 26 and was jailed for 16 months.

Sentencing him, Judge John Devaux said he must have realised at the moment he pushed the pensioner over, if not before, that the occupier of the house was an elderly woman probably living on her own.

William Carter, for Kryzius, said his client had spent most of Christmas Day drinking at a nearby address and had committed the burglary on a “drunken impulse” as he was walking home.

He said the fact his client had turned on all the lights in the house was an indication that he didn’t think anyone was at home.

Mr Carter said his client was of previous good character and had come to the UK two years ago to find work. He said Kryzius had a partner and a six-month-old child.

“He is genuinely remorseful and apologetic,” said Mr Carter.

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