Couple woke to find burglar in their house and can no longer face living there

A couple woke in the dead of night to find an intruder in their living room, a court has heard.

Andrew Hancock took Lego, a pack of chocolate bars, and a box of latex gloves in the raid but cannot remember the incident because of the amount of street Valium he had taken. The victims now want to move house as they no longer feel safe.

Swansea Crown Court heard the 53-year-old had more than 200 previous offences on his record including 73 thefts and five burglaries. Sending him back to prison a judge told the defendant he was a "persistently dishonest man".

Brian Simpson, prosecuting, told the court that at around 4am on December 11 last year the occupants of a house on Glantawe Street in Morriston were woken by noises coming from the living room. One of the couple got up to investigate and found Hancock in the room.

The defendant said he thought the property was "abandoned" and he was noted to be "stumbling and slurring over his words". The homeowner told him to get out, and he did.

The prosecutor said it later emerged that Lego, chocolate bars, a box of latex gloves, and a jacket were missing from the property.. The jacket was subsequently found abandoned outside.

The police were notified of the break-in and officers began a search of the area. Hancock was found in nearby Bath Road and when searched was found to be carrying a screwdriver, a pair of pliers, a torch, and two sets of nail scissors. 

An an impact statement which the victim read to the court, he said the burglary had exacerbated his anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder, and left him "jumping" at every noise. He said he had flashbacks to finding Hancock in his living room and now struggled to sleep, and he said the couple now wanted to move house as they had lost their "safe space".

Andrew Hancock, of Chemical Road, Morriston, Swansea, had previously pleaded guilty to burglary and possession of a bladed article when he appeared in the dock for sentencing.

He has 73 previous convictions for 206 offences including 76 for theft and kindred matters, three house burglaries, two non-dwelling burglaries, criminal damage, possession of drugs, and possession of weapons.

Stuart John, for Hancock, said the defendant had managed to stay out of trouble for most of 2025 - something which was "no small thing for a man with as formidable an antecedent record as Mr Hancock" - before "succumbing to temptation" and buying street Valium.

He said that on the night in question his client had consumed a "considerable amount" of Valium and as a result had "little or no recollection of what happened".

He added that his client had asked him to express his remorse to the victims, and had told him he wanted to make changes in his life.

Judge Paul Thomas KC said the real mischief of the offence of burglary was not in the value of items stolen but in the the feelings of "violation" and "lack of security" that victims were left with.

He said it was clear from Hancock's record that he was a "persistently dishonest man", and said "time alone will tell" if his protestations that he wants to change will come to pass.

With a one-quarter discount for his guilty pleas, Hancock was sentenced to three years in prison. He will serve up to half the sentence in custody before being released on licence to serve the remainder in the community.