Armed drug user left Luton couple '˜shaken' after smashing window and collapsing in their garden

Aysha Glasford, 33, appeared at Luton Crown Court on Friday for sentencing after pleading guilty to criminal damage and carrying a bladed article.

The court was told that at around 3.40am on May 15, the couple were awoken by strange sounds in their home.

After the husband went downstairs to investigate, he found the back window panel smashed and Glasford leaning over by the patio doors.

When police arrived a short time later, Glasford had collapsed in the garden.

Officers described her as “incoherent” and a search revealed she was carrying a kitchen knife with a four to five-inch-blade in her handbag. They concluded she had intended to burgle the home.

Glasford has a total of 34 convictions for 62 offences, including several counts of possessing a bladed article.

At the time of the offence, she was unlawfully at large after failing to appear in court to be sentencedfor shoplifting.

Her defence stated she had “fallen through the cracks of society” and carried a knife for protection due to her sex work. She had weened herself off a £600-a-day drug habit while in prison.

Judge Nigel Lithman QC said: “Clearly, what you did must have been fuelled by drink or drugs and on this occasion, again you armed yourself.

“People coming across you can’t predict what you’re going to do. Any sentence I impose is one whereby I’d like you to fulfil your ambition of getting in touch with a case manager.”

The judge jailed her for ten months and encouraged her to work with probation and social services, not to become “another wasted life”.