Four-year jail sentence for burglar who terrified pensioner in her flat

Leeds Crown Court heard yesterday the 76-year-old victim, who lived in a sheltered housing complex in Wakefield, was watching television in her flat during the afternoon when Derek Norman Gray suddenly appeared.

He had been let through the locked door to the central area by someone else and finding her door unlocked went inside.

He asked her about a scooter outside and then said he was there to check on her switches.

He wandered around her flat and his victim was so scared she decided to “play stupid”.

When he suggested she get up and go and stand by the kitchen door to help him which would have left her handbag alone, she told him she could not get up and managed to press her alarm button she was wearing around her neck to summon help.

He left and she discovered he had searched rooms in the flat opening drawers to see what he could find but had gone empty handed.

Simon Haring, prosecuting, said fortunately the complex was covered by CCTV cameras, and the intruder was shown in a distinctive hooded top and glasses. Gray was traced after he was also seen wearing them on a Facebook picture.

Gray, 45 of Elland Road, Elland, Halifax, admitted burglary with intent.

Jailing him, Judge Geoffrey Marson QC said having been released from his last sentence for a time he had managed to keep out of trouble but had then “reverted to your career as a dwelling house burglar”.

Although no threats were made he had still “terrified the life” out of his victim which would have lasting consequences for her.