A robber who broke into a student’s bedroom and claimed to be an assassin sent to kill him has been jailed for five years.
Elisha Spencer, 28, strolled into the 23-year-old’s room in the middle of the night and claimed there was a contract out on his life.
The victim awoke at 2.30am on April 18 to find Spencer standing at the bottom of his bed smoking a cigarette boasting about being a professional hit-man.
Fearing for his life, the victim handed over his mobile phone and computer before Spencer left his room in Northampton.
Northampton Crown Court heard the man was so scared he barricaded his door for the rest of the night and did not leave his room.
Spencer was finally tracked down after saliva on the cigarette which he had stubbed out in the room was matched to his DNA.
When he was arrested Spencer denied robbery but was convicted after a jury found him guilty by a unanimous verdict.
Jailing him for five years, Judge Sylvia De Bertodano said the evidence against him had been overwhelming.
She said: “It’s a great pity we are dealing with this after trial and you did not plead guilty.
“Fortunately, the overwhelming evidence against you was from DNA left on a cigarette, smoked while in the bedroom.
“You only have to think about it for a minute to yourself, what it must feel like, to wake up in the middle of the night to find a strange man in your room, making threats to kill you.
“I am not at all persuaded that this wasn’t anything other than a terrifying ordeal as he did not know whether you had a weapon or not.
“I very much hope that when you are released you can set yourself up as a hard working father to support your children.
“I accept no force was used, but of course the threats were more than of minimal force, but it was effectively threats of fatal force.
“It is a great pity I am not able to give you any credit for pleading guilty.”
The court heard Spencer, of Stoneyhurst, Northampton, had previously been jailed for four years for conspiracy to commit burglaries.
Henry James, defending, said: “It is an aggravating feature that this happened in the victim’s own bedroom, at night but the items taken were not valuable.”
