He ruined my life, says 80-year-old Widow

AN 80-YEAR-OLD widow said her life was ruined when Martin Harris broke into her home and stole valuables worth £18,000.

The woman lost jewellery collected over a lifetime when he burgled her house in a village outside Plymouth.

She added: "I felt very angry that someone had violated my home. It was dreadful.

"I have lost jewellery that I can never replace.

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"In some ways it has ruined my life in that I cannot stop thinking about it or talking about it.

"If I am honest, I thought at the start that he should have gone down, but I think this was a successful outcome.

"The police will be watching him closely for the next two years."

The woman, who did not want to be named, returned from a two-day trip away to find her home ransacked in September last year.

She added that the value of jewellery taken was estimated at £18,000, but her insurance did not cover the full amount.

The widow said: "It was not a very happy situation to come back to. But what can you do? You have to struggle on."

She went to Truro to see whether any of the jewellery was for sale in antique shops.

But she believes that Harris simply had the gold melted down and sold it for a fraction of its value.

The woman said at least now she knew what happened and her burglary had only been solved because of his confession in police interview.

Her daughter said that she thought her mother would never take a trip away from home again.