A HALESOWEN man who left an 85-year-old pensioner badly traumatised when he raided his home with an accomplice has been jailed for four-and-a-half years.

Judge Michael Challinor told 22-year-old Kevaughan Redden: "This man was roughly handled by you and your co-burglar, as a result he no longer feels safe in his own home."

The judge said the victim was a man in his "twilight years" and he was entitled to feel safe in the comfort of his own property.

But he had been left feeling "scared and frightened" after the raid by Redden who with his co-raider fled from the premises empty handed.

"He maintains he did not know the injured party was at home," stressed Simon Hanns defending. "He believed the house was empty."

Mr Hanns told Wolverhampton Crown Court that Redden accepted his actions had been extremely frightening for the pensioner and he was full of remorse for the raid.

Redden, of Long Lane, admitted raiding the house in Devereaux Road, Smethwick and another property in the area and the judge ruled only a substantial jail term was appropriate for the crimes

The raid on the pensioner's home was a particularly serious offence, said the judge, because the man had been sitting quietly watching television.

Redden, he went on, had clearly planned the raid with his accomplice who had not been traced by police and they had attacked the property.