THE terrifying footage of a burglar creeping around her as she slept in a chair is something that Margaret Woodward can still not bring herself to watch.
But it was this footage and the frail 68-year-old's courage at the time that brought her nightmare to an end as it nailed Patrick Reid on the fifth time he burgled her home in 12 months.
Reid, 51, is seen dressed in dark clothing, with his hood up, going right up to Mrs Woodward and searching around her as she slept.
The sound of him unzipping the bag on her mobility scooter woke her, and as soon as she realised what was happening she grabbed her stick and went after him.
Reid escaped through the bedroom window of her ground-floor flat in Long Eaton but his face was caught on film. Police had put cameras in Mrs Woodward's home because they were so worried about her being a persistent target of crime.
Mrs Woodward, who suffers from severe arthritis in both knees, said that afterwards she felt suicidal.
She said: "The fact that someone was touching me while I slept and I didn't know, made me feel like I didn't want to live any more.
"I felt like it wasn't my home any more – it was his home."
When she woke and saw him in her living room she felt "so angry, he was back". and thought: "I thought this time 'I'm going to get you'."
In total, £900 was stolen from her.
Now, six months on, Mrs Woodward's "pluck and courage" has been recognised at an award ceremony held by Derbyshire's High Sheriff, Derek Mapp. She has been awarded £1,500 from his fund.
The prize is awarded by judges to about 20 people over the course of a year.
Speaking at the event, Judge Jonathan Gosling, who sentenced Reid to four years and eight months in jail, said: "Some of us may have been unlucky in the past to have been burgled more than once, but I expect none of us have experienced what Margaret has had to. She was burgled by the same man no less than five times."
Speaking about the final time, which was on April 7, Judge Gosling said: "He [Reid] walks right up to her chair, satisfies himself that she was asleep, steps around the chair and then looks in her mobility scooter.
"Suddenly she wakes up to find him at arm's length away. Does she scream for help? No, Margaret, who cannot move easily at speed, gets up quickly from her chair and, stick aloft, chased him from her home."
