A PENSIONER has spoken of her terror when a would-be intruder tried the handle of her front door as she sat at home.

The attempted break-in, at a maisonette in Eversley Close, Malvern, was the second at the same house in just a few hours.

The woman, aged 67, who does not want to be named, said: “It was really unnerving to hear the door handle go like that, and I think I would have been quite a bit more frightened if I had been living on my own.

“Luckily, I had just checked that everything was properly locked up, otherwise I shudder to think what might have happened if he had been able to open the door.

“It’s strange someone having the nerve to come back after he had already been spotted behaving suspiciously in the morning.” The neighbour had noticed earlier that a small window had been left open while the woman and her husband, 72, were out shopping.

She went into the back yard and saw a man in dark clothes standing on a ladder. He saw the neighbour, hid his face with his jacket and ran away.

“When we came back at about three o’clock, my neighbour said somebody had been trying to get in but ran away,” the woman said. The second attempted break-in was at about 5.10pm.

“I was sitting with my husband and a friend, and we heard the front-door handle being rattled up and down,” the woman said.

“My friend went to the door and looked out, and she saw him hiding behind a bush. He then ran down the alley and my friend got a look at him, and she was able to give police his description.

“The police said they’ll be talking to Elgar Housing about getting better lighting, because it’s all old people round here.”

The man is described as white, wearing dark clothing, five feet nine inches tall, of medium build, with dark hair, stubble and his face was drawn and haggard, with watery “glistening” eyes. He wore a donkey-type jacket and dark trousers or jeans.

Anyone who saw anyone acting suspiciously in the area should call 0800 555111.