Horror as couple confront burglar, Michael McNamara from Newbury, raiding their home

A JUDGE has praised the courage of a couple who were confronted by a burglar in their own bedroom.

A quiet evening in turned to horror as they were faced with every householder’s nightmare - an intruder in the home.

They came face to face Michael McNamara, who fled through a window with property worth thousands of pounds, leaving his victims traumatised by the home invasion.

The 35-year-old, formerly of Newtown Road, Newbury, but latterly of no fixed address, had only just been released early from prison on licence, Reading Crown Court was told on Tuesday, October 8.

James Preece, prosecuting, said the woman, Ms Campbell, heard a clatter upstairs and went to investigate.

She saw McNamara trying to climb out the window and shouted at him.

The court heard he warned her: “There’s people coming up after me.”

The male resident, identified as Mr Bagega, gave chase but was unable to catch the fugitive.

McNamara admitted burgling the home in Parkhouse Lane, Reading, in August last year.

He has 90 previous convictions for offences including burglary, robbery and theft, and had been released early on licence just two days before committing his latest offence.

McNamara got away with laptop computers, jewellery and other items together worth almost £4,000, the court heard, but was arrested when detectives found his fingerprints at the scene.

Mr Bagega said in a victim impact statement that he had to lose a week’s work due to the loss of the laptops, thereby costing even more.

Christopher Pembridge, defending, said his client had a decades-long addiction to drugs and alcohol.

Upon being released from prison, he added, “bang - he was back on drugs.”

The greatest mitigating factor was McNamara’s early guilty pleas, the court heard.

Judge Rachel Drake told McNamara his victims had been “minding their own business, getting on with their daily lives.”

She said: “Ms Campbell wound up being confronted by you.

“It’s hard to appreciate just how shocking and frightening that must have been - to be confronted by someone you’ve never seen before, in a place [in which] you’re entitled to feel safe and secure.

“They are to be commended for their quick thinking in contacting police but you, of course, escaped through the window.

“Mr Bagega, with great courage in my opinion, pursued you.

“You should have appreciated just how catastrophic your actions were, just because you needed your next fix.”

McNamara was jailed for two years and five months.

He must serve at least 40 per cent of that in custody before he is considered for early release on licence.