A GRANDMOTHER told this week how she woke to find a stranger in her bedroom. The teenager indecently assaulted her while her husband watched television in the next room.

The grey-haired victim sobbed as she told the court: "He whispered and told me to shush. I thought, what if he has a knife? I was frightened, I shouted as loud as I could for my husband."

Her attacker, a skin-headed teenager of 16, from Bury, sexually assaulted the woman after climbing through a window to burgle the house.

Mr Campbell Tait, prosecuting, told Minshull Street Crown Court, Manchester, how the victim at first thought the person in the room was her husband, rummaging for something in the bedroom draws.

As she turned over she noticed a figure drop down by the side of the bed.

"Again she was not unduly worried because having just woken up in a darkened room she thought it must be her husband," he said.

"But it was not her husband in the room, it was this defendant. He then lay across the bed and sexually assaulted her."

The victim, who cannot be named for legal reasons, only realised it was not her husband when she felt the man's head.

"I thought it was my husband, I said 'What's the matter, what's wrong?'," she told the court.

"He then jumped on the bed. I still thought it was my husband but this voice kept saying 'That's not John'. "I touched his head. It was very short and bristly, so I thought that is it, it's not my husband. I shouted as loud as I could. I was very upset and in tears".

The youngster, who is too young to be named, fled but her husband had to break the door down because a chair had been wedged under the handle.

The youth left fingerprints inside the house and police later arrested him after the burglary in West Yorkshire on August 27 last year.

The teenager, who has previous convictions for burglary and car theft, was due to appear in court two days after the burglary for other crimes. He later admitted both offences.

Mr Paul Taylor, defending, said time spent on remand in Hindley Young Offenders prison had had a great effect on him and his father, who was in court, was willing to support him on his release.

"We are still dealing with a boy. At the time of the offence he was only 16 and still growing. He has never been charged with a sexual offence before and is not a danger to the public," said Mr Taylor.

Jailing him for 12 months, Judge David Fish said: "It was a terrifying experience and you have seen the distress you have caused. Your offending leads to only one place - prison."

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