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A burglar asked one of his victims if she wanted to go to bed with him after waking the sleeping woman by tapping on her head, a court heard.

She found convicted criminal Benjamin Wild standing over her as she woke from a sofa in Wendover Drive, Aspley, at 6.15am.

When she refused his request for sex, he asked if she found him attractive and said he was "in fact, sexy".

Wild refused to leave as other family members woke and found him in the house. In the end, the woman forcibly got him out - but he left with the door key.

Judge James Sampson sent him to youth custody for 27 months for the burglary, describing his behaviour as "worrying" and "frightening" and "indeed, bizarre".

And he passed concurrent sentences for common assault, after he tapped the head of the woman, and for three attempted burglaries, all on May 4 and in the Aspley area. No separate penalty was given for trying to open the locked doors of cars.

The judge said at Nottingham Crown Court: "You entered upon what can only be described as a mini crime spree in the early hours of May 4 this year. You'd not long been out of prison.

"People are entitled to feel safe in their own homes. You invaded their privacy or attempted to do so. The trauma for your victims is very real indeed."

(Image: Notitnghamshire Police)

The court heard 19-year-old Wild - who already has 17 convictions for 33 offences on his record - had tried to burgle a three-bedroom home in Welstead Avenue. The resident was woken by his dog barking at 5.45am and heard the front door slam.

He went outside and saw Wild further up the street and asked him if he had been trying to get in.

"The defendant said he hadn't," said Katrina Wilson, prosecuting. Wild said he had been out with friends and to see his grandfather. He claimed he saw a number of males running away from the address.

Another attempted break-in happened in Ladbrooke Crescent when Wild, of Hawksley Court, Daybrook, tried the locked door of a home. The householder, sat on his sofa with his children, spotted Wild as he tried the handle of his car outside.

Wild went on to try the handle of another car, then attempted to open the door of another house in Welstead Avenue.

The court heard he been locked up in January for driving dangerously and had not long been released.

Chris Brewin, mitigating, said: "He was under the influence of alcohol and cocaine at the time of these offences."

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