South Tyneside pensioner feared for her life when a man barricaded himself in her home during the early hours

Ryan Anderson, 32, barricaded them both into her bedroom in Mowbray Road, South Shields, as he fled attackers who had chased him around empty streets for 40 minutes.

Anderson, of Canterbury Street, Chichester, South Shields, was breathless and bleeding after being slashed – leading his 80-year-old victim to fear that she too may die.

He barged in at 3am on Monday, February 6, after seeing a light on, prosecutor John Garside told the borough’s magistrates’ court.

While not physically hurt, she was so traumatised she has not returned to her property.

District Judge Andrew Garthwaite heard Anderson had a right to save himself from attack but said putting the woman through the ordeal was “pitiful”.

Ordering him to pay a total of £600 compensation, he said: “I can only imagine the horror of this 80-year-old lady having someone break into her house and being told, ‘I’m being chased, they’re going to kill me’.

“The ramifications of what can happen in circumstances like this are deadly.

“The fact the lady has been put through an ordeal that had nothing to do with her - as she says, will stay with her for the rest of her life - is pitiful.”

Mr Garside told the hearing: “She was awoken when the defendant burst through her bedroom door.

‘He put boxes against the door and said, ‘someone is going to kill me’. She was petrified. He said, “shut the door or I’ll get killed’.

“She saw blood on his hand and was fearful. She told him police were there, and he was subsequently arrested.

“She hasn’t been back, she has stayed with her daughter, she is nervous about going back home.”

While breaking in, Anderson smashed a window, blinds and plant pots, leading him to plead guilty to a charge of causing criminal damage.

Jason Smith, defending, said: “He was at a property and two males were there. They chased him for about an hour around South Tyneside.

“They caught up and slashed him and he ran and ran until he could run no more. He was arrested for more serious offences.

“The police watched CCTV of his description of the roads he went on. Officers found that everything he had said was true.

“He was a victim of these individuals who were going to kill him. He went to this house, it was the only one with a light on, he hadn’t a choice. He was in absolute fear of his life.

“He went into the room where this lady was and barricaded himself in. The others came into the house. This was not a fallacy or fantasy.

“It was either enter, or be stabbed outside. He feels sick that this lady has suffered.”

Anderson was also handed an indefinite restraining order not to enter Mowbray Road and not to contact his victim.

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