Burglary victim was robbed as she lay in bed

A ROBBER who broke into a woman's house as she slept in bed recovering after her house was burgled has been locked up for six years.

Elliott Truelove robbed Natalie Williams of her handbag as she lay in bed hours after her homed was targeted in a separate raid.

Swansea Crown Court heard that earlier on May 2, Miss Williams had returned to her Nicholl Street home and found she had been burgled by an unknown person.

Barrister John Hipkin said she then called a friend, Robert Spiller, who agreed to come to her house on the pretext of comforting her.

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Spiller arrived, pretending to comfort the woman, but had actually planned for Truelove to enter her home while he was there to rob her.

Swansea Crown Court heard Spiller, 31, of Matthew Street, Swansea, has now pleaded guilty to being responsible for the burglary at her address but is awaiting sentence.

As Miss Williams went to bed, Spiller told her he would check her front door was locked while she went into her bedroom.

Mr Hipkin said: "Spiller went to the front door on the pretext of seeing if it was locked, when in fact what he was doing was unlocking it to allow entry for what happened later on."

An hour later, as she lay sleeping, Truelove, 20, of Heol Ffion, Gorseinon, entered the house wearing a motorcycle helmet and went into her bedroom.

A lump hammer was held to her face, and the woman was told to hand her handbag over or she would be killed.

She pleaded to be left alone but her handbag was taken.

Truelove, who has two previous convictions, was also being sentenced during the hearing at Swansea Crown Court for causing grievous bodily harm.

He admitted that offence and the robbery.

On October 15, during an altercation on Cecil Street in Gowerton, he punched Christian Thomas with a single blow, causing him to lose three teeth.

Ian Ibrahim, representing Truelove, said the assault was not premeditated, but accepted the robbery was an "extremely unattractive offence".

But he asked Recorder Christopher Clee to take the fact the robbery was over within minutes into account during sentencing.

"This is a young man, who within a few months, when in the wrong crowd, proved himself to be foolish and irresponsible," said Mr Ibrahim.

Recorder Clee said: "She was threatened and thought she would be killed if she didn't hand over her handbag.

''She must have been terrified," he added. He then sent Truelove to a young offenders institute for six years.

A concurrent term of 12 months was added for the assault.