A MAN from Rhyl has been jailed for burgling the home of a woman and her two young children, in which he destroyed the ashes of the mother's late son.

Christopher Bambrough, 31, of East Parade, was sentenced to 20 months’ imprisonment at Mold Crown Court today (March 7).

Prosecuting, Catherine Elvin told the court that, on February 4, Kathleen Bower was at her Rhyl home with her two young children.

At about 8.50am, she came downstairs with her daughter in her arms.

While stood at the bottom of her stairs, she noticed her living room appeared untidy, and could see a vase and numerous wires scattered across the floor.

A cardboard box which contained her late son’s urn had been moved from the windowsill and had been “shredded” on her living room floor.

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Moments later, she turned and saw Bambrough in a doorway, and began to panic, “sweating and shaking with worry”, with her daughter still in her arms all the while.

Bower placed her daughter on her sofa, and shouted at Bambrough to leave.

He began to walk slowly to her back door, so she followed him into the back garden, where she saw him get hold of her bike which had been leant against her garden wall.

Bambrough pushed the bike out of her garden after Bower shouting at him to get off it proved fruitless.

She returned to the kitchen, locking the door behind her, and called 999.

Bower then noticed that food items had been moved from her fridge, and a picture frame which contained a baby scan of her late son had been moved, with the frame on the floor, damaged.

A Manchester United team photo, which had belonged to her late father, had been moved from the interior of the property to the exterior, while £30 on her living room table had disappeared.

Bambrough was arrested nearby with the bike in possession; this was then returned to Bower.

He denied his offences when interviewed, but entered a guilty plea at his first hearing.

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In a statement, Bower said she doesn’t feel safe in her home since the incident, and sleeps on her sofa so that she can hear if anyone enters her property.

Bambrough had 19 previous convictions for 44 offences, four of which were theft-related matters – the latest of which was in 2012.

This incident also saw him breach his supervision requirements following an imposition of a custodial sentence upon him last April for a series of public order matters.

Defending, Patrick Geddes said Bambrough was arrested at 9am, but was still deemed unfit for interview some 12 hours later.

According to Bower, he appeared “oblivious” to everything, and could not form coherent sentences.

Bambrough had previously been sectioned and diagnosed with schizophrenia and personality disorder.

Bower’s address was said to be roughly half a mile from that of Bambrough’s, and Geddes said there was “no explanation” for his “bizarre” behaviour.

His version of events, when eventually interviewed, was described as  “equally bizarre”, but Geddes said he had “no doubt” that his client “genuinely believed his account”.

Of the £30 stolen, £10 was said to have been recovered.

Geddes said that this was Bambrough’s “first and, I would like to think, only burglary”.

Sentencing, Recorder Simon Mills told Bambrough: “What you did had a high impact on your victim.”

In addition to his 20-month prison sentence, Bambrough was ordered to pay a statutory surcharge of £187.

Recorder Mills praised Bower for taking a “very, very good picture” of Bambrough as he tried to cycle away, a piece of evidence he described as “absolutely crucial” to the police’s investigation.

Conversely, he labelled the story which Bambrough gave to police when interviewed as “totally ridiculous”.