A cocaine-addicted burglar broke into the home of the 78-year-old woman he had known since childhood.
Toby Wiskin alerted his victim to his presence when he kicked over a soap dish as he tried to get into the family friend’s home in Wootton in the early hours of August 19 last year, Oxford Crown Court heard.
The homeowner challenged 27-year-old Wiskin. He took hold of her arm and forced it against a piece of furniture, leaving her with a ‘nasty’ cut.
In a victim impact statement read to the court by prosecutor Charles Ward-Jackson, the pensioner said her faith in people had diminished as a result of the break-in.
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She had treated the burglar like a son, she said. “All he had to do was ask me for help.”
The woman said she had been left fearful of leaving her house, comparing it to ‘living in a prison’. Her ‘beloved dog’ was more skittish now than he had been before the burglary.
Mr Ward-Jackson said that he had spoken to the victim, who believed that although Wiskin ‘deserves to be punished’ she did not welcome the thought of him being sent to prison immediately.
Messages found on the defendant’s phone suggested he wanted to borrow £20 on the night of the break-in, the court heard. He had cycled from Abingdon, where he was staying above the Nags Head pub, to carry out the burglary in Wootton.
For his part, Wiskin was said by his barrister Eiran Reilly to be ‘deeply ashamed’ of his decision to burgle the family friend’s home. At the time, he had binged on alcohol and cocaine, to which he was addicted.
“Mr Wiskin is extremely guilty about what he’s done. He feels terrible. He accepts it. It’s genuine remorse,” Mr Reilly said.
“He lives in this small community in Wootton and everybody else knows what he’s done.”
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Originally apprenticed as a printer, he left to work in various other jobs, most recently in the hospitality industry. He had the offer of a job in Scotland with a former colleague in the pub trade.
The judge, Recorder John Bate-Williams, said he would ‘dearly like to send the defendant to Scotland’.
However, because a different legal system was in force north of the border, Wiskin would not be able to complete unpaid work or rehabilitation programmes imposed by an English judge under the supervision of a Scottish probation officer.
Recorder Bate-Williams imposed 20 months’ imprisonment suspended for two years, telling the defendant: “It is clear to me you fundamentally abused the trust [your victim] had in you and that your behaviour has left her pretty devastated.”
He must do 250 hours of unpaid work, an 18 month drugs rehabilitation requirement and up to 30 rehabilitation sessions with the probation service.
Wiskin, of Mathews Way, Wootton, pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing to burglary and causing actual bodily harm. A restraining order prevents him from going to the street in Wootton where his victim lives.
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