Woman in Rock Ferry woke to find burglar on landing asking where he was

A mum awoke to find a bloodied burglar had broken into her house and spent the night sleeping in her young son's bed.

Rebecca Redmond got up and shouted for her two children to get ready for school before running a bath, only to be confronted by a stranger covered in blood on the landing. 

The intruder, Laurence Carthy, had broken into the house, but drunkenly passed out during the burglary.Liverpool Crown Court heard how Ms Redmond, a nurse, woke up at her home in Rock Ferry, at around 8am on 22 May 2021 and went to run a bath, when she saw Carthy, 32, coming out of her son's bedroom. The little boy had been ill the previous evening and spent the night with his mum.

Carthy, who was wearing the youngster's coat and had a "bloody cut" on his head, said: "Where am I? I don't know."

As a "terrified" Ms Redmond escorted him out of the house, Carthy picked up his keys and mobile phone from the dining room.

Upon leaving the address, Carthy asked: "Which way do I go?" Ms Redmond pointed him in the direction of a nearby Tesco store.

She then noticed that items including a Nintendo Switch, another handheld games console, eight video games, an Amazon Fire box and vaping liquids had been bundled into a jacket which had been left on the sofa in the living room.

Carthy was linked to the break-in after leaving blood on the child's bed - where he is thought to have fallen asleep "heavily intoxicated" while finding items to steal.

Once arrested, he gave an "absurd" account under interview of having met Ms Redmond in the street and been invited back to her home. But she had headed straight back to her house after a late shift at Arrowe Park Hospital in order to tend to her sick son.

At the time of the incident, Carthy was out of prison on licence from a term he had been serving for robbery.

Carthy, of Bentinck Place, Birkenhead, pleaded guilty to burglary and was jailed for two years. He was also told to pay a victim surcharge.

Want a quick and expert briefing on the biggest news stories? Listen to our latest podcasts to find out What You Need To know...