A woman has been jailed for the failed burglary that forced a couple out of their home.

They saw Toni Sharman, 40, silhouetted against the window of their ground floor flat as she tried to break into their Layerthorpe home using a crowbar in broad daylight, said Alisha Kaye, prosecuting at York Crown Court. Sharman made off but was arrested nearby.

Since then, the couple have packed their belongings and found a new home because it was the second time they had been burgled and the wife is now terrified to be in the flat alone.

“You have had a terrible impact upon them,” Judge Andrew Stubbs QC told Sharman. “Your criminality has disrupted their lifestyle.”

Sharman’s solicitor advocate Neal Kutte told him: “She feels prison is the best place for her at the moment and plans to make the most of what is available for her in prison.”

Sharman, of no fixed address, who has more than 100 previous convictions, pleaded guilty to attempted burglary and was jailed for 18 months the day after she turned 40.

She had spent her birthday behind bars on remand and appeared at York Crown Court via a video link.

Ms Kaye said Sharman tried to break into the flat in Merchant Court at 11.20am on Monday, January 2. The couple were at home and recognised her as someone who visited another flat in the same building.

York Press:

She claimed she was retrieving a mobile phone and made off, hiding the crowbar in her clothing. The couple contacted police and she was arrested shortly afterwards, but by then had got rid of the crowbar.

She had started breaking the law more than 20 years earlier and had 46 pages of previous convictions including violence, drugs, thefts and stealing from a house.

Mr Kutte said she apologised for the effect her failed burglary had had on the couple. She had a longstanding drug addiction which had led to her committing most of her offences and also suffered from epilepsy and had mental health difficulties.

She lived on the streets, but when the weather was bad was allowed to stay at the flat of an acquaintance who lived in the same building as the couple’s flat.