AN ‘HORRENDOUS error’ is how a solicitor described the actions of a Kendal man who broke into an elderly couple’s home and smeared blood on their walls and carpets.

Rachel Broughton said her client, Simon Jeffery 0’Brien, 26, of The Old Shambles, Fleece Inn Yard, had mistaken the property on Brow Close, Windermere, as belonging to his girlfriend.

At South Lakeland Magistrates Court in Kendal this week O’Brien admitted entering the property while the couple slept and causing almost £1,000-worth of damage.

Lisa O’Louglin, prosecuting, said the couple had awoken on July 21 to discover a window had been smashed and blood had been smeared on various walls, carpets, window frames and railings.

The police were contacted and a discarded jacket containing a bank statement linked O’Brien to the scene.

“The victims have been left feeling very vulnerable in their own home and are concerned it might happen again,” Miss O’Louglin added.

Mitigating, Rachel Broughton, said O’Brien, a labourer with two young children, was extremely remorseful and hugely embarrassed at his actions.

She said he had been out on a rare drinking session prior to the incident and had intended to visit his girlfriend who recently moved into another property on Brow Close.

“His alcohol induced confusion led him to mistake the victim’s property as belonging to his girlfriend,” she said. “He has very little recollection of entering the building. It was a horrendous error but he knows that is no excuse for causing the damage he did.”

O’Brien, who has written to the couple to apologise, was sentenced to 200 hours of unpaid work and was ordered to pay £967.93 compensation and prosecution costs of £60.

“We find this a despicable crime,” said chairman Pat Keegan. “You cannot underestimate the effect that this has had on the victims. It is not something you can cope with in a few days. This kind of trauma lasts for years and you are the one that caused it.”