Rachel knew a thief had broken into her house as she lay upstairs in bed. She heard him rifling through the drawers in her kitchen and singing. Her bedroom door didn't have a lock and her landlord was away, so she was alone and at the intruder's mercy.

As she lay trembling she also realised she was trapped in her upstairs room because her windows were glued shut. She didn't even have a phone to alert the police.

The 28 year-old, who now lives in Oxford, still remembers every detail of the ordeal which happened eight years ago when she was a student in Loughborough.

"It was 3.30am and I was just drifting off to sleep. I worked behind the bar at a nightclub so had only just got home when I heard a crash from downstairs and realised there was a person in the house and he was rummaging around.

"The worst thing was that I had no way out and I could not even call for help. I literally froze with fear. I was far too frightened to go downstairs and confront the burglar or even get up and make noises in my room so the person knew someone was in.

"I thought he might come upstairs and knew there was no way I could defend myself if he did. So I just lay there, pretending to be asleep.

"The burglar was there for about half an hour but it seemed like hours to me. It was an eternity before he finally left and I got up and pushed every piece of furniture I had against the door and stayed there shivering in my bed until daylight."

The next morning Rachel edged her way downstairs and phoned the police. The intruder had not stolen anything except some photographs, which led police to a nearby house.

They eventually charged Rachel's neighbour, who had psychological problems, with the burglary and related offences. He received a jail sentence for his crimes.

But for Rachel the memory of being burgled will never go away. She knows it was an unusual case and not something which is ever likely to happen again but she can't forget the fear. To this day any accommodation she moves into must have a window she can get out of, a lock on the door and a telephone.

"I also make sure I have something I can defend myself with, not a knife or anything, but something heavy like my guitar. I am definitely much more safety conscious now as well and although I can be on my own in a house I always walk around before I go to bed to make sure all the windows and doors are locked."