A burglar stuck her tongue out in her mugshot after holding a blade in front of a terrified woman’s face and locking her inside her own home.
Cleo O’Donnell, 22, showed no remorse before being jailed for more than seven years for fleeing with iPhones, laptops, a PlayStation, jewellery and cash during two raids.
Her accomplice Anthony Hannay, 34, was sentenced to eight years after leaving another homeowner heavily bleeding by striking him in the head.
The woman thought the crack cocaine addicts were ‘going to kill or kidnap her’ as they ransacked her property, Worcester Crown Court heard.
The burglary was planned as the couple knew there was a safe in one of the flats ‘so went armed with weapons to confront the victim’, Andrew Davidson, prosecuting, said.
He continued: ‘Violence was threatened and violence was used. The woman living in an upstairs flat had left the door unlocked because her partner, who was away on night shift, had forgotten his key.
‘At about 6am she was awoken by the two defendants in her bedroom. Mr Hannay was holding a baseball bat, Cleo O’Donnell a knife.’
They are initially said to have told her: ‘We’re not going to hurt you. We’re not going to do anything. We just want to know where the safe is.’
But the pair ‘became frustrated’ when she replied: ‘We don’t have a safe – I don’t know what you mean.’
O’Donnell was accused of holding the blade in front of the victim’s face, saying: ‘I don’t trust her. I don’t believe her. She’s too calm.’
Hannay and O’Donnell ‘shouted if she called police they would kill her’, Mr Davidson added.
The victim’s phone was taken so she could not call police and she was locked inside the flat – but managed to raise the alarm by contacting her partner on an iPad.
The horrifying burglary on January 10 didn’t stop there as the pair went downstairs to wake a man in another property around 6.15am.
Mr Davidson: ‘Before he knew what was happening, both defendants had entered his bedroom. They shouted: “Where’s the safe? Where’s the money? Where are the Rolexes?”’
Hannay hit the victim on the top of his head, leaving him with a two-inch wide cut which was ‘not deep’ but bled heavily.
The victim – who ‘described both burglars as appearing like crackheads’ – opened the safe, knowing there was nothing of value inside.
Hannay and O’Donnell then fled with his wallet, an iPhone, iPad and a jar containing £20 to £30.
But the couple was caught as police later traced them via their mobile phones to a Travelodge.
They both admitted two counts of aggravated burglary and one of false imprisonment at Worcester Crown Court.
Sentencing, Judge Nicolas Cole said: ‘It’s every householder’s nightmare to wake up to not one but two burglars in their property, both armed
‘The female victim was terrified. She thought they were going to kill or kidnap her and is still in shock.’
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