A BURGLAR who woke a woman by brushing against her hand as she slept in her bed has been jailed for 20 months.

Roger Moore was drunk when he entered the terraced house, in Salisbury Street, Swindon, in the dead of night while a family of five slept inside.

But the 44-year-old heroin addict, who has a long history of crime, woke his victim as he looked for things to steal in the darkened room.

He then tried to get away but was detained by the woman’s husband, parents and sister, who were all woken by her screams.

Hannah Squire, prosecuting, told Swindon Crown Court Mercian Fernandes was asleep next to her husband at their home on Tuesday, August 19.

“In the early hours of the morning she was woken by something brushing against her arm. She woke to see a man in her bedroom,” she said.

“She also saw the light of a mobile phone and grabbed hold of the person by the arms and shouted to her husband, ‘wake up, there’s someone in the room’.”

Moore started telling them he was looking for someone called ‘John’, who he said had opened the door for him.

They called the police and held on to the defendant, who struggled to get away, while they waited for them to arrive.

Miss Squire said the victim noticed her iPhone had been moved and when they looked outside her laptop, which had been on charge inside, was by the living room door.

Moore, who gave an address on the Isle of Wight, pleaded guilty to burglary.

The court heard he had numerous convictions going back to his teenage years and was on a community order imposed in March.

Rob Ross, defending, said his client had been drinking heavily before the incident and could recall little about it.

The bedroom he entered was on the ground floor, he said, and he never went upstairs in the house.

He said that he had not committed a burglary for more than 20 years and his recent record was for more petty offences.

Since his last conviction he said his attendance at appointment with the probation service had been good.

Jailing him, Judge Tim Mousley QC said: “Just over three weeks ago you broke into someone’s home, it was just before one in the morning.

“You woke Mrs Fernandes because you brushed past her arm in the darkness of the bedroom.

“That is the sort of experience everyone dreads and must have been terrifying for her. She woke Mr Fernandes then all the family and they detained you until the police arrived. Throughout that period of time you tried to get away from them and escape. Once the police arrived you lied to them.”