Too scared to be in her own home

Pensioner set to move after robbery

A 91-YEAR-OLD woman is to leave her West Drayton home after a break-in left her ‘too scared’ to stay.

A burglar broke into the elderly woman’s home in West Drayton Park Avenue while she slept on January 4 but was disturbed by a neighbour and prevented from taking anything.

Peter Dean, who lives in the street, heard a loud bang at around 10pm whilst he was sitting home.

He said: “I investigated and saw a shadow in her porch, kicking the door in. I saw someone go in so I ran round there and shouted to them and someone came running down the stairs screaming like a banshee, really loud to intimidate me.

“After challenging the burglar in the entrance hall I was attacked and a scuffle broke out. My only intention was to detain the intruder – I was just trying to hold onto him until someone showed up, but he broke free and ran off.”

Mr Dean’s wife called the police but the burglar had gone by the time they arrived.

The concerned neighbour thinks the case shows burglars consider themselves ‘untouchable’ as the police can’t respond faster.

Mr Dean added: “We need officers out there that are a visible deterrent and I, for one, am willing to pay more on my council tax to achieve this.”

The 91-year-old lady, who is bedbound and looked after by carers, had planned to spend her last days in her own home but will now move to a care home as she doesn’t feel safe. She will join her husband, who fought in the Second World War, but now has dementia, in a nearby care home.

Her nephew John Butt said: “I can’t believe that an area the size of West Drayton doesn’t have a police station anymore.

“The difference between a policeman having to come from Eastcote instead of just round the corner in West Drayton in this case, could have mean that the scum that broke into my aunty’s house could have been caught there and then.

“This just highlights the plight of vulnerable elderly citizens in our community today – there must be hundreds of people in this country in the same position as my aunty who slip beneath the radar and are the unknown generation that nobody seems to care about.

“But it was this generation that fought for the very freedoms we enjoy today and here who are being let down.”

Detectives in Hillingdon are investigating the burglary and have confirmed no arrests have yet been made and enquiries are ongoing.