Helene Sentkovsky's car was stolen three times

Former bookkeeper Helene Sentkovsky took the radical step of meeting one of the teenagers who had persecuted her face-to-face.

And the 43-year-old from Wokingham, Berkshire, found the experience changed her attitude.

She explained: "All I had was my imagination and in my mind this offender was going to be big, brutish, rude and arrogant.

If I hadn't been given the opportunity he would never have known the harm he caused me and damage to my family Helene Sentkovsky

"But what I got was a 15-year-old boy that could have been my son.

"It reduced my fear of crime because I had my imagination replaced with reality."

Ms Sentkovsky said the meeting with the boy and his parents, during which he apologised after she told him of the distress he had caused her family, had helped to "bring closure" to her ordeal.

The two parties met at a conference set up under Home Secretary David Blunkett's "restorative justice" proposal.

Not for everyone

The scheme, billed as an alternative to prosecution, also saves court time and taxpayers' money.

She added: "I hadn't expected to feel any better and I didn't attend the conference to be angry I just wanted answers to my questions."

Ms Sentkovsky was so transformed by the experience she now works arranging similar conferences for Thames Valley Police.

"I think it is important that people are given a choice. But if I hadn't been given the opportunity he would never have known the harm he caused me and the damage to my family," she said.