Sixty-year-old Elizabeth Scovel was dozing in her lounge on Sunday evening, at about 6 pm, when she awoke to find an unknown man, believed to be in his 20s, sitting on the arm of the couch watching her.
Reliving the moment, she said: “It was just instant and overwhelming panic.”
Elizabeth, who walks with the aid of a cane, started repeatedly telling the man to leave her Ivy Place home and asking who he was and why he was there.
The man insisted that she ‘knew’, but did not make it clear what he was referring to.
As she stood up, so did her uninvited guest, but she moved to the other side of her coffee table and picked up a glass ornamental candle holder, to try and ward him off.
She said: “I kept screaming that he should get out and he kept saying that he needed to pee. “It was terrifying.”
The man eventually left and she slammed the door behind him and locked it.
She said: “I was so nervous, completely on edge. I kept trying to dial the police and kept getting the number wrong, I was shaking.”
Elizabeth says the man spoke with an Irish twang and seemed drunk as his words were slurred.
He is described as being about 5’7”, slim build, in his twenties, with a young looking face and fair to dirty blonde hair. He was wearing a dark jacket and jeans.
She said: “He did look familiar. Not that I knew him but that maybe he’s someone who I’ve seen going past my window before.
“I live in flats and there is often partying going on in one of the flats above.”
She insists her doors are usually locked but said: “My cat had brought in a dead bird so I’d opened the door to put it out and then went to wash my hands and forget to re-lock the door, which is very out of character.”
Shaken by events, she added: “I haven’t been able to sleep properly since this has happened. It’s scared me so badly.
“The police have been amazing though. I can’t praise them enough.”
Inspector Gordon McKnight, of Lockerbie Police Station, has offered assurances to locals that this appears to be an isolated incident.
He said: “We are treating this very seriously and have ongoing enquiries.
“This is, however, a very unusual incident for this area.”
