A devastated widow has criticised the sentence given to a Romanian burglar who spread human waste and bodily fluids around her Bushey home.

Marin Dragoi, 41, forced his way into the home of 58-year-old Lynne Martin, in February 2009, when she was visiting her daughter in hospital.

In a shocking act of vandalism he coated the walls with faeces and semen before urinating on a sofa and destroying cherished family possessions – including a photograph of Mrs Martin’s late husband.

Dragoi, who turned to a life of crime just weeks after arriving in the UK, was jailed for three years for that and a string of other offences in the Harrow, Barnet and Ealing areas.

Harrow Crown Court heard how he would frequently take up residence in his victims’ homes, swilling beer from their fridges and eating food from their cupboards.

Fighting back tears after the hearing today, Mrs Martin, who has now moved out, criticised the fact that Dragoi will serve only half his sentence.

She said: “It just seems like mercy is shown to the criminal and not to the victim. It seems so unfair that he's had his sentence reduced by 50 per cent.”

Her twin sister Sue Griffin described the sentence as “obscene” and said everything Mrs Martin had worked for over 35 years was destroyed.

She said: “These people are rather like a sub-culture that prey on ordinary decent people and then wreck their lives.

“This isn't the country I grew up in any more, it just isn't, and it's high time this sick sub-culture is reined in and brought to task for what they are doing to this country.

“This has brought trauma to her that no one can even tell of.”

Petru Iosub, 31, who also took part in the attack, was sentenced separately at Wood Green Crown Court to two-and-a-half years in prison for 11 charges of burglary.