Old wrongs

THE idea of the modern pensioner as fit for little more than whist drives and afternoon naps has long been somewhat patronising. Even so, the revelation that hundreds of over-70s have been arrested in Yorkshire over the past two years – for offences including car theft, attempted murder and carrying a gun – is a shocking one.

This increase may, as one criminologist suggested, be caused by desperation and poverty in uncertain economic times. Or it may simply be down to the fact that the number of elderly people has risen as a result of demographic changes and medical progress which is keeping people fitter and more active for far longer than previously.

But, whatever the reason, the figures show that age is no barrier to wrongdoing. Nor does it mean that elderly criminals will always see the errors of their ways.

Anyone doubting this has only to look at the case of 68-year-old Ernest Wright, jailed for life this week for murdering a man in his Bradford home, 10 years after being released from prison for an earlier murder.

This case is a reminder that age alone should never be used as a basis for making assumptions about anyone, nor as a mitigating factor when criminal acts need to be punished.