A BURGLAR broke into a care home and posed as a carer before stealing from an elderly woman who lay terrified in her bed.

Less than 24 hours later, Darren Fitzroy Waul entered a couple's home and ended up fighting a “spirited” pensioner who refused to let the crook steal from him.

Bournemouth Crown Court heard how Waul first gained entry to the Grange Care Home in Mount Road on the morning of March 17.

He entered a resident's room pretending he was a carer there to make her breakfast.

The 43-year-old drug addict, who was released from prison less than a month prior, asked the vulnerable woman if she knew the code to a medicine cabinet in her room, the court heard.

Realising the man was an imposter she pressed the emergency bell in her room which alerted staff to Waul.

Bournemouth Echo: An elderly woman’s hands, in Poole, Dorset. (Yui Mok/PA)

The defendant stole a tablet, mobile phone and two bank cards before fleeing the home. 

The next morning, Waul slipped into a ground-floor flat in Surrey Road, Bournemouth, and began stealing several devices.

The property owner was alerted to Waul by his wife’s shouts and ran inside to see him exiting a room carrying iPads.

The 74-year-old man sprung into action by pinning the burglar up against a wall and began punching him. Waul then hurled an iPad at his victim and “threw him” across the corridor.

Stuart Ellacott, prosecuting, said that Waul then ran into a bathroom when he was again cornered by the “spirited” victim. Waul brandished wire cutters to warn the homeowner off, before throwing another stolen iPad which struck him in the nose, causing a bleed.

Bournemouth Echo: Surrey Road in BournemouthSurrey Road in Bournemouth

Waul then fled with a stolen mobile phone only to be arrested later that day.

A victim personal statement read out in court on May 18 on behalf of the victim said: “I feel angry, it made me feel very vulnerable and I should not have to fight someone to defend my own home.”

Waul has 50 previous convictions relating to 123 offences going back to 2001.

Rose Burns, mitigating, agreed that Waul was an “opportunistic” burglar but said he offended to feed his drug addiction habits and struggled to adapt to life outside of prison.

“He is not proud of his record, he is not proud of himself,” she said of the father of four.

“He can feel remorse for this poor old lady and he feels really sorry for having done it.”

Recognising his “appalling” criminal record, Judge Jonathan Fuller KC sentenced Waul to four years and six months in prison.