Homeowner returns to find family of squatters

London: A householder returned home after forgetting his wallet — only to discover a Romanian family had moved in.

In what a judge described as a "Dickensian" spectacle, an immigrant couple with a child in tow had broken in through a window and were making themselves at home.

Mihai and Laura Dediu told the stunned homeowner they were moving into his two-bedroom house because they had heard it was empty, a court was told.

The homeowner is thought to have left the house for no more than an hour.

When he returned to collect the wallet he had forgotten, he found the couple inside and called the police.

The judge dealing with the case was incredulous at the details unfolded at Northampton Crown Court.

"The owner comes back at 5pm and there's an unknown car parked in his drive and the lights to the house are on," Judge Richard Bray told the court.

"He goes in and finds these two defendants and, wait for it, a young child. We're going back to Dickensian times, it appears.

"When challenged, the defendants say they own the property and are just moving in and that the male defendant was going to alter the locks as part of that process."

Sentencing the Dedius to 100 hours' community service with a 12-month community order, he added: "This is a bizarre case. I must be the most experienced person in this building for burglary and in 26 years I cannot remember a case where burglars have taken a young child with them to carry out the burglary. I really can't."

Dediu, 30, and his 24-year-old wife admitted criminal damage to windows and locks while forcing their way in to the house in Northampton on December 7 last year.

The pair said a Romanian man they met in a shop told them they could squat in the house because it was empty, the court heard.