Shropshire cocaine addict jailed for terrorising woman
A cocaine addict who forced a terrified woman and her three-year-old daughter to flee their Shropshire home during a search for drugs has been jailed for almost three years.
Alexander Osborn-Horrocks hammered on Natasha Hanson's kitchen door at 4am pretending to be a police officer, Shrewsbury Crown Court heard.
The hearing was told he wore a hooded top and threatened to kick down the door and send in police dogs.
Miss Hanson eventually grabbed her young daughter and ran through the front door to a neighbour's house, after which Osborn-Horrocks broke in but left without taking anything.
Osborn-Horrocks, 29, of Meadowtown in Minsterley, near Shrewsbury, admitted burglary on February 24 this year. Judge Simon Tonking handed him a 32-month jail sentence and ordered him to pay a £120 surcharge.
Police apprehended Osborn-Horrocks at about 7.50am after going to his house and waiting 35 minutes for him to come out, at which point he said: "Okay you persistent lot, here I am".
Mr Danny Smith, for Osborn-Horrocks, said his client, whose partner is expecting his child in June, used to work for the local authority doing groundworks but was made redundant and found himself with too much time on his hands.
Mr Smith said Osborn-Horrocks consequently indulged heavily in his cocaine addiction. He said: "He believed there was cocaine to be had at that address and, frankly, it was too much of a temptation to resist and he wanted to go to get cocaine."
