Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Why isn’t the targeting of old folk a hate crime?
The Crown Prosecution Service has been crowing that it is prosecuting more people than ever for hate crimes and ensuring they receive tougher sentences. It defines hate crime as “any incident which the victim, or anyone else, thinks is based on someone’s prejudice towards them because of their race, religion, sexual orientation, disability or because they are transgender”. There’s a glaring omission from that list: age. Targeting someone because they’re elderly and easy prey is not considered a hate crime. The result? Cowardly worms like Stacey Hunter walk free from court. The 32-year-old from Darlington admitted stealing £13,000 from a 94-year-old and spending the cash in, among other places, Boozebusters, and on cinema tickets and online shopping. Hunter, 32, was supposed to be the woman’s carer. Instead, the victim was left “shattered and constantly crying”, and has since died. Yet Hunter walked free from Teesside crown court with a 20-month suspended jail sentence. In mitigation, the court heard that she has a heroin problem, and is the sole carer for her six-year-old daughter – which doesn’t sound like an ideal combination. Shortly before the case she posted on Facebook: “I no im far from perfect but who the hell is!” This is not the only recent case of a carer escaping jail for stealing from the very person they should be been looking after. Janet Haysum, 59, was given an 18-month suspended sentence at Nottingham crown court for stealing £2,356 from her 81-year-old mother. Zoe Nash, 34, was given a 13-month suspended sentence at Canterbury crown court for stealing £5,000 from a 92-year-old. The Crown Prosecution Service says that the law does not allow it to categorise these offences as hate crimes. It added: “Sentencing guidelines do however invite courts to increase the sentence for offences against older people on the basis that their perceived vulnerability is an aggravating factor.” This cuts no ice with Gary Fitzgerald, chief executive of Action on Elder Abuse. “Having sentencing guidelines is all very well, but there are too many cases coming through courts demonstrating how ineffectual they actually are,” he said. “When it comes to crimes committed against older people, what we see time and time again are soft sentences and paltry fines – and that’s in the very rare instances when offences even reach the courts. “Making elder abuse an aggravated offence is important not just because it would result in tougher sentences being imposed as a matter of course. It would also act as a powerful deterrent to the callous crooks who currently see vulnerable older people as easy prey.”