A prolific offender from Hatfield has been jailed for four years for domestic burglary and attempted burglary, which resulted in one of his victims ‘losing her faith in society’.

The victim, a retired woman, had to sleep with her front door unlocked after Robert Osborn broke it in an attempted burglary on February 19, 2018.

In a statement read out at St Albans Crown Court today, the Woodhall Lane resident said: “I have lost faith in society.

“I had to barricade my door with furniture until a locksmith could come and every time I go out, I think ‘what will I come back to?’”

She had been visiting her sister in hospital on the day and returned to find herself unable to get into her own home.

The woman found the door had been pulled from the frame.

She wants to install more security, but cannot afford to, and her request for £654 compensation for the damage was turned down in court.

Judge Philip Grey said: “The order is pointless in the circumstances.

“I would be astonished if he was in a position to comply.”

Osborn was seen running away from another home on Woodhall Lane at around 8pm on the same day and he also broke into a garage shortly before 9pm.

He has a long-standing addiction to crack cocaine and alcohol, and at the time of his offending was taking high-strength medication for anxiety, bipolar disorder and depression.

He had 31 previous convictions for 106 previous offences, 25 of which were for domestic burglary or attempted domestic burglary.

The 44-year-old, of Campion Road, said his “default situation was drugs and crime”, which was echoed in his probation report.

Passing sentence, Judge Grey said: “[The Woodhall Lane retiree] has been left feeling, justifiably, very angry and insecure in her own home.”

Osborn also pleaded guilty to charges of failing to comply with a drugs test and going equipped for theft in November 2017.

He and another man were caught by police after being seen at the window of an elderly person’s property and their DNA was found on a crowbar and an axe at the window.

Judge Grey sentenced Osborn to four years in prison for burglary and attempted burglary in February and going equipped for theft in November 2017.