AN elderly woman thought a burglar was going to strangle her after he kicked down her front door during a terrifying ordeal.

Jason Price, 47, was high on drink and drugs when he walked towards his victim with an electrical wire when she confronted him.

The serial burglar had smashed his way into her Nantyglo home during the early hours of the morning, Cardiff Crown Court heard.

Christopher Evans, prosecuting, said Price had been prowling the streets and knocking on residents’ doors and tapping windows in the pouring rain.

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He had been challenged twice by homeowners who asked him what he was doing.

Mr Evans said: “The defendant told one man he wanted his mother’s phone number who had died recently.

“Another occupant was told, ‘I live in Abertillery. I like your house. Do you want to swap?”

The court heard how the police were called twice and they spoke to Price on both occasions and searched him before they let him go.

He then went on to burgle his victim soon after on January 27.

Mr Evans said: “The complainant was asleep when she heard a loud bang. She turned on the lights. Her front door had been kicked through.

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“She saw the defendant and screamed at him to get out. There was a plug in a socket and he removed it and wrapped it around his hands and came towards her.

“She thought he was going to strangle her.”

Price then fled empty-handed before the woman called the police.

The defendant, of Somerset Street, Abertillery, pleaded guilty to burglary.

Mr Evans said Price had 49 previous convictions for 110 offences.

He added: “The defendant has 66 which are theft-related, including a number for burglaries in the 1990s, October 2009, December 2009 and January 2018 for which he was sent to four years in prison.”

Richard Ace said in mitigation that his client had been orphaned when he was young and later became dependent on drugs and alcohol.

He added: “The defendant has expressed his remorse and realises how serious his behaviour was.”

Judge Richard Twomlow told Price: “This must have been a very frightening experience for the victim.

“This is a serious matter involving an elderly lady who was home alone.”

He jailed him for two years and four months.