Good luck has not always smiled on a young refugee who fled the horrors of Kosovo to settle in Southend.

Besnick Shabani, 28, came here not knowing if the advancing Serb forces had slaughtered his family.

After he arrived in Britain on a cold October day in 1996 he learned that his father and brother were taken prisoner 20 miles from the Albanian border.

Shabani, who spoke little English, roamed around the Southend area before he moved with his wife to Ashburnham Road.

Tragedy struck when his wife lost twins in a miscarriage.

It led to her suffering from depression and the pair began to argue a lot, Basildon Crown Court heard.

Their domestic tiffs flared again and Shabani ended up at a police station, where his fingerprints were taken.

He was shocked when the police said his prints matched those left on a window ledge during an attempted burglary two years before.

The young refugee was arrested and charged with the offence. Despite protesting his innocence, he was convicted.

Jobless Shabani was ordered by Judge Francis Petre to serve 100 hours community service and pay £100 costs.

The judge told him: "This was a nasty offence.You cannot go about trying to break into people's homes. It is their territory.

"How would you like it if someone got into your home?

"You have had your problems since you came to this country and I appreciate this offence happened two years ago.

"It seems to have been something which was out of character and I notice you have been of good behaviour since."

The judge thought Shabani, now the father of a 12-month-old son, must have been drinking at the time.

But the bewildered defendant said later: "I don't drink very much."

He added: "I had no intention of breaking into that house.

"I would never do anything like that. There must have been a mistake."

As he and his wife hugged their toddler son, Shabani declared: "I must put all this behind me.

"Since the war ended in Kosovo I have spoken to my family on the phone.

"They were not killed and I am now hoping to see them very soon."

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