News
Man Watches Friend Have Sex From Attic
Published: May 17, 2004 - 10:47 AM
A jealous middle-aged man who broke into the home of a woman friend and secretly watched her having sex with her boyfriend was jailed today for 15 months. Liverpool Crown Court heard how the shocked woman looked up from her bed and saw an eye peering at her from a hole in the ceiling.
The panicking woman immediately told her lover and they called the police.
Officers arrived at her Wirral home and found 54-year-old Robert Smith hiding in the loft ? complete with a flask and pack of sandwiches, said Arthur Gibson, prosecuting.
It was found that Smith, a highly respectable hard working man, had secretly made a copy of the house keys when the 48-year-old woman had given them to him a week earlier so he could do some work for her.
While she was out with her new boyfriend he used them to get into her home and went to the loft with a chisel and made a small hole through her bedroom ceiling. He then settled himself down to wait with his flask and food.
The couple returned to the house after an enjoyable evening out and went to bed and had ?intimate relations? and she then looked up and saw an eye looking at her through a hole in the ceiling, said Mr Gibson.
?This offence is totally bizarre,? said Alan Boscoe, defending.
?He has never been in trouble and has an exemplary work record. Nothing about his character would suggest he is dangerous to society or would commit offences.?
He explained that the couple had known each other for six years and had gone on holidays together but it had always been a platonic relationship.
?He had been a very close friend and I think he attached more to their friendship than she did. He was a regular at her house and her mother?s home and he reacted very badly when he found out that she had started a relationship with a man.
Jailing white haired Smith, Judge Ian Trigger said, ?It is an utter tragedy to see you in the position you now find yourself. He said that Smith had grossly abused her trust by making a duplicate copy of her house key.
?... She had formed a relationship with a man and I am satisfied that you caused you feelings of angst. You were jealous and you behaved in a manner which brings nothing but discredit to yourself.
?You set out quite deliberately on an expedition to her house. You knew she was likely to be out that evening with the man. With a chisel and some food and something to drink you went and literally broke in and started to camp out in the loft above her bedroom.
Smith, of Ennisdale Drive, West Kirby, Wirral, who has worked for 25 years for the same building contractor, pleaded guilty to breaking into the house with intent to cause criminal damage on December 20 and another charge of causing criminalage.
Officers arrived at her Wirral home and found 54-year-old Robert Smith hiding in the loft ? complete with a flask and pack of sandwiches, said Arthur Gibson, prosecuting.
It was found that Smith, a highly respectable hard working man, had secretly made a copy of the house keys when the 48-year-old woman had given them to him a week earlier so he could do some work for her.
While she was out with her new boyfriend he used them to get into her home and went to the loft with a chisel and made a small hole through her bedroom ceiling. He then settled himself down to wait with his flask and food.
The couple returned to the house after an enjoyable evening out and went to bed and had ?intimate relations? and she then looked up and saw an eye looking at her through a hole in the ceiling, said Mr Gibson.
?This offence is totally bizarre,? said Alan Boscoe, defending.
?He has never been in trouble and has an exemplary work record. Nothing about his character would suggest he is dangerous to society or would commit offences.?
He explained that the couple had known each other for six years and had gone on holidays together but it had always been a platonic relationship.
?He had been a very close friend and I think he attached more to their friendship than she did. He was a regular at her house and her mother?s home and he reacted very badly when he found out that she had started a relationship with a man.
Jailing white haired Smith, Judge Ian Trigger said, ?It is an utter tragedy to see you in the position you now find yourself. He said that Smith had grossly abused her trust by making a duplicate copy of her house key.
?... She had formed a relationship with a man and I am satisfied that you caused you feelings of angst. You were jealous and you behaved in a manner which brings nothing but discredit to yourself.
?You set out quite deliberately on an expedition to her house. You knew she was likely to be out that evening with the man. With a chisel and some food and something to drink you went and literally broke in and started to camp out in the loft above her bedroom.
Smith, of Ennisdale Drive, West Kirby, Wirral, who has worked for 25 years for the same building contractor, pleaded guilty to breaking into the house with intent to cause criminal damage on December 20 and another charge of causing criminalage.
