Drug addict caged for killing 100-year-old Nazi camp survivor

A HEROIN addict has been handed a 15-year prison sentence for killing a 100-year-old Nazi prison camp survivor in a street robbery.

Artur Waszkiewicz attacked Zofija Kaczan from behind as she was walking to church — knocking her to the ground, snatching her handbag and leaving her bleeding in the road on May 28 last year.

Polish-born widow Ms Kaczan was originally sentenced to death on her birthday by the Nazis in her home country — but her life was instead ended by the drug addict who needed £20 to buy heroin.

Ms Kaczan suffered multiple injuries in the robbery, including a fractured neck and cheekbone.

She died from pneumonia in hospital on June 6 — a condition brought on by the injuries from the attack close to the junction of St Chads Road and Empress Road in Normanton, Derby.

Waszkiewicz, of Hilary Road in Shepherd’s Bush, west London, was unanimously convictsnatched

Sentenced: Artur Waszkiewicz

ed of manslaughter and robbery by a jury at Derby Crown Court on Wednesday.

As the 40-year-old was sentenced yesterday, Waszkiewicz, who was also born in Poland, bowed his head throughout the sentencing hearing flanked by one dock officer.

The mugger’s latest convictions have been added to a series of other offences — including battery, shoplifting, creating fake identity documents and motoring offences.

After striking Ms Kaczan from behind, Waszkiewicz then her green handbag with so much force that the handle was ripped off and the pensioner was left with severe bruising on her arm.

Jailing Waszkiewicz, Judge Nicholas Dean QC said: “In this trial, you demonstrated the arrogance of the cowardly petty criminal you are.

“The evidence you faced overwhelmingly showed you to have been the man who attacked Zofija Kaczan on May 28 last year, soon after her 100th birthday.

“True to your nature as a petty criminal and heroin addict, this was opportunist crime of the meanest, most despicable type.”

Ms Kaczan had been separated from her family during the war but had managed to “find peace” with her husband when she moved to Derby in 1948.

Friends said she did not want to celebrate her 100th birthday because the day marked the same date she had been sentenced to death by the Nazis.

Police arrested Waszkiewicz after finding his fingerprint on a receipt in the handbag and spotting his Seat Leon car on CCTV at the scene at the time of the attack.