July 27, 2018 5.13 pm This story is over 67 months old

Addict jailed for robbing vulnerable elderly man

She targeted him twice in the same night

A heroin addict admitted breaking into the home of a vulnerable elderly man in Gainsborough to steal his jewellery while he lay helpless in bed.

Samantha Davies, 31, of no fixed address, entered the man’s home in the early hours of the morning after using a key she had stolen earlier.

She walked into the 65-year-old man’s bedroom, where he was asleep and called out his name to wake him up.

Leanne Summers, prosecuting, said that Davies asked the victim to sit up and then removed a gold necklace from around his neck.

Davies also took a gold bracelet from his wrist and tried, unsuccessfully, to remove his watch – in total, she stole items worth £2,000.

In her first raid, Davies took a mobile phone, cheque book, cigarettes and a bank card – which she later used to buy almost £90 of goods at a petrol station.

The victim later told a neighbour what had happened to him and the police were called.

Miss Summers said: “The complainant is 65 years old. He has a number of health issues making him vulnerable.

“He was involved in a fall and suffered a severe blow to the brain. It left him with memory problems.”

When Davies was arrested she admitted she had visited a number of times but claimed she did so to check on his welfare.

Judge Simon Hirst, passing sentence, told her: “This was a disgraceful series of offending. It was mean and nasty.

“You took advantage of a vulnerable man having wormed your way into his friendship. He was deliberately targeted.”

Police Constable Donna Fry said: “To target the victim once is cruel and cowardly, but to come back to the same property and repeat the offence is same night is something that words cannot describe.

“The heart-breaking thing about this case is that the victim was awake through the whole ordeal, and was pretending to be asleep out of fear.”

David Eager, in mitigation, said: “She has a depressing history of convictions. They are the sort of convictions you see from those who are addicted to heroin.

“She can only explain her behaviour by the need to obtain heroin.”

He said Davies intends to stay off drugs and move from the Gainsborough area when she is released from her sentence.

She was jailed for a total of 40 months.