Horrified woman found drunken intruder naked in her home

A horrified woman who woke to find a naked drunken man in her home has suffered flashbacks after the ordeal.
Chesterfield magistrates' court.Chesterfield magistrates' court.
Chesterfield magistrates' court.

Chesterfield magistrates’ court heard on Tuesday, February 14, how Jack Heathcote, 18, of Park Avenue, Darley Dale, Matlock, ended up in a family’s home in Matlock where he went to sleep in a small child’s bedroom.

Prosecuting solicitor John Cooper said: “The complainant lives with her husband and two daughters and her husband had been out and she went to bed after seeing to the cat and thought the external door to the kitchen was locked.

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“She was woken by a clattering noise and thought it was one of her girls but it was pitch black and she picked out a figure of someone sitting on the end of the bed.”

Mr Cooper added the complainant saw the figure moving from the room and she went to her eldest daughter’s room and found a naked man unconscious under the bed.

The complainant alerted police and a pair of wet jeans, trainers and socks were found in the kitchen and a gate at the side of the house had suffered damage.

Mr Cooper said the complainant had been left very distressed and her eldest daughter had been left in tears.

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The complainant told the court she has been having flashbacks and is uneasy to be left alone at home.

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She added that one of her daughters has been left frightened to go to bed.

Heathcote also urinated in a police van after he was apprehended, according to Mr Cooper.

The defendant told police he could recall drinking about ten pints of lager at the Duke of Wellington pub in Matlock but he could not give police any explanation for why he ended up at the at this family’s home in Matlock.

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Mr Cooper said he was genuinely remorseful and wished to offer an apology to the family concerned. Landscape gardener Heathcote pleaded guilty to one count of damaging a gate and one count of damaging a police vehicle after the incident on January 29.

Defence solicitor Kevin Tomlinson explained the extent of criminality was limited to the damage because trespassing alone is not a criminal offence.

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Mr Tomlinson added Heathcote believed that due to his alcohol intake he had ended up entering a property he believed was his own home. He said Heathcote is appalled by his behaviour.

Heathcote told the family in court: “I just simply want to apologise for everything that happened.”

He added: “I never meant anything bad to come from it.

“It was simply a drunken mistake.”

Magistrates fined Heathcote £528, and he must pay £618 in compensation, a £30 victim surcharge and £85 costs.