A woman who took revenge on her cheating lover by getting a removal man to strip his flat bare remained defiant as she narrowly avoided prison.
Scorned Corrina Finney, 39, was heartbroken when she found Brian Waite being unfaithful for the third time after spotting his photo on the Mature Free and Single dating site.
She got a removal van driver to help empty his flat while he spent a day at the races and took everything apart from the lightbulbs to make sure he could see it was empty.
She removed all his furniture, electrical equipment, bed, clothing and toiletries and carpet and left just the underlay.
Mr Waite, 63, returned to find his property in Moredon, Swindon, Wilts “looking like a new build” was was left with only the clothes he was wearing.
Mother-of-two Finney was quickly arrested by police who also tracked down most of Mr. Waite’s property.
She admitted theft and handed a 15 month community order after magistrates took pity and said a prison sentence was not appropriate.
Finney was also given an 18-week curfew between 9pm and 6am and ordered to pay #560 in compensation to Mr Waite.
But as she left Swindon Magistrates Court Finney refused to apologise and said she was glad that Mr Waite “got what he deserved”.
She said: “I’m still not sorry, not in the slightest. The court was a bit harsh, but I’m not sorry, you can print that.”
The court heard that Finney, from Swindon, and Mr Waite had been in a relationship for around 18 months.
It ended when she found him advertising himself on the website and planned her revenge.
Michelle Hewitt, prosecuting, said: “On March 14 Mr Waite went out for the day very early at around 7.45 to Cheltenham Races.
“Throughout the day he received numerous phone calls from the defendant asking what time she was going to be home.
“She arranged for a man with a van to come round and the place was stripped bare of everything.
“The carpets, clothing, food and the fridge, the television, oven, cutlery and curtains – everything.”
When Mr Waite returned at around 8.15pm he was shocked to discover that his flat was empty and immediately called the police.
The court was told the value of the stolen items “ran to the total of thousands” but most were recovered by police with the help of the removal man.
Mr Waite’s bed, clothes and carpet, totaling #950, could not be found.
In a victim impact statement read to the court he said: “I cannot put into words how this offence has made me feel.
“When I opened the door to the flat to find out everything had gone it was a shock I will never forget.
“I’m upset that it has all come to this, I just want to take a clean break from Corrina despite all this hassle.
“I have no carpets, bed or clothing, all I had left were the clothes I was wearing, it is going to cost me a lot of money to replace it.”
Gordon Hotson, defending Finney, said despite outward appearances her client was “very remorseful”.
He added: “It came as a great shock to her to discover that behind her back he was still using a dating type website when they were trying to make a go of things.
“Having discovered what he was apparently doing behind her back, it came as effectively the last straw to her and caused her to snap.
“She planned what she was going to do. She wanted to do something that would affect him as she had been affected very badly by the discovery of his alleged infidelity.”
Chairman Nigel Spinney told Finney: “This was a serious offence, some planning was involved in organising a white van to come and remove all this furniture.
“We could be sending you to prison today but we are not going to, but it is that serious.”
