A prolific burglar raided the home of a Ramsgate pensioner twice in seven years.

But drugs addict Benjamin White claimed he was so high the first time that he did not recognise the house.

Police had to wake up feisty 87-year-old Edna Todd at 5am to tell her they had nabbed a thief leaving her home.

Officers asked her if she was frightened, but the courageous Mrs Todd told them: "I feel OK. It was a shock to be woken up in the early hours but if I was to worry about everything I wouldn't have lived until I was 87."

The burglary took place just weeks after White, 36, had been released from a long prison sentence. Now he has been jailed for another six years.

Denzil Pugh, prosecuting, told how a neighbour had spotted a man near the pensioner's home in Allenby Road and called the police.

White, of no fixed address, was arrested and tried to bluff his way out by claiming to live at the property saying there "was an old girl" upstairs.

Mr Pugh said that when he was searched, officers found letters and cards and a can of Coke, which he had taken from the house.

"The officers then went upstairs and found Mrs Todd in bed to reassure her that everything was alright," he said.

"you have about the most prolific record that i have ever seen... you are someone who preys on the old and vulnerable…” – judge james o’mahony

Mrs Todd's daughter Gillian said that despite being a stalwart, the second burglary had made her mother more nervous.

She told police: "She (my mother) had always had a positive outlook and for 87 was young minded but she has lost her enthusiasm in general. She doesn't seem herself."

The prosecutor said: "The great majority of White's burglaries were at the homes of old people - including a burglary at Mrs Todd's in 2005.

Nicholas Jones, defending, said White had just been released from a six-year sentence shortly before the break in and was homeless.

He claimed he did not recognise the house and did not realise a pensioner lived there until he was inside.

His barrister said he could not remember the first burglary at the home of Mrs Todd because of his addiction to crack cocaine.

White's criminal record includes sentences totalling more than 15 years since his first conviction for burglary in 1993.

Judge James O'Mahony told him: "You have about the most prolific record that I have ever seen both at the Bar and as a judge and you are someone who preys on the old and vulnerable.

"The public and the vulnerable deserve protection from your persistent offending."