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Terrified veteran left home over raids
A WAR veteran gave up living alone in his own home after he was terrorised by the same intruder three times and was twice threatened at knifepoint, a court heard.
The 89-year-old man had lived in the same back-to-back terraced home in Huddersfield all his life, first with his parents and later, until he was widowed, with his wife.
But the former soldier, who served with the Royal Artillery in the Second World War and was taken prisoner, had to move into sheltered housing after he was confronted in his home by Paul Michael Steadman for the third time.
On the first occasion on April 30 last year, the drug addict slipped inside when the pensioner left his door ajar. He grabbed a knife from the kitchen and told his victim: "Give me the money or I'll stick this into you."
He left with 50 after cutting the telephone wires but on May 10 returned. The pensioner had left the door ajar again but this time with a door chain on. Steadman forced the door open and again demanded money, stealing 100 from under a cushion.
The callous raider returned again on May 31 waiting until some visitors left to get inside. He had a knife and repeated the threat from his first visit getting away with 80.
Bashir Ahmed, prosecuting, told Leeds Crown Court yesterday the pensioner was so scared of the robber returning again he could not sleep and suffered flashbacks about what had happened. He felt he had no alternative but to move.
Steadman, 39, of Eastlands, Almondbury, Huddersfield, who admitted four charges of robbery and one of burglary, was given an indeterminate prison sentence for public protection.
Ordering him to serve a minimum of four-and-a-half years before he could apply for parole, Judge Robert Bartfield said he should be detained until the authorities were satisfied he was no longer a risk, particularly to the elderly who in this case had been targeted by him.
The judge said he had sentenced Steadman to six years in prison last July for a burglary at a pensioner's home when similar offences were taken into consideration. At that time the full scale of his offending was not then known.
He said Steadman returned to his 89-year-old victim three times having decided it was easy pickings, in doing so he had turned that man's life "upside down".
Mr Ahmed said Steadman also robbed a 66-year-old woman in her home on June 20 after forcing her door, breaking the chain in the process. He stole 110 after threatening to stab her and her dog.
On June 22 he jumped into a couple's car in traffic in Longroyd Lane, Paddock, Huddersfield and demanded money, holding a knife at the woman passenger's throat.
Her partner shouted for help and Steadman fled but took the woman's handbag as he left.
Nigel Hamilton for Steadman said he now felt remorse for what he had done but at the time the offences were committed when he was suffering severe drug addiction and needed money to fund his habit.
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Saturday 26 May 2012
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