‘Scumbag’ mocks judge over 10-year jail term
A ‘SCUMBAG’ burglar sneered “Is that it? You should have made it 15” after a judge jailed him for 10 years for preying on the elderly and vulnerable during lockdown.
Michael Alcorn, 55, committed a string of burglaries over two days in April.
He posed as a builder to con his way into the home of one of his victims – an 81-year-old severe dementia sufferer – and stole cash.
The daughter of another of his victims, an 83-year-old man with limited mobility, branded Alcorn “a lowlife” who targeted a “vulnerable, old man who has never hurt anyone in his life”.
The son of another victim, a 79-year-old woman who lives alone and requires regular care visits, said of Alcorn: “The man is a scumbag.”
Before his outburst, the court heard Alcorn had contracted coronavirus while on remand and that had more of a ‘salutary effect’ on him than any of the numerous jail terms he had received for a total of 25 previous convictions for 55 offences.
Andrea Lock, defending, said: “He was very poorly and tells me he thought it might be his fate that he would die in custody.
“He said that had given him more pause for a rethink than anything before.”
At Preston Crown Court, Alcorn pleaded guilty to five burglaries on April 28 and 29 at homes in Whitworth, near Rochdale, Rossendale, Helmshore and Haslingden.
He also admitted breaching an Anti-Social Behaviour Order imposed in 2004 which bans him from approaching homes to offer services.
Sentencing, Judge Brown, the Honorary Recorder of Preston, told Alcorn: “You are a person who is prepared to prey on those least able to resist.
“At a time when the Covid-19 crisis was close to its highest peak these were elderly and extremely vulnerable people who no doubt had been instructed by the government that they fell into the special category of people who needed to self-isolate for their own protection.
“Despite that you were willing to go into their homes and have confrontations with them.”
The court was told it was very unlikely that Alcorn, from Accrington, would be released before his licence period for the previous offence expires in September 2023.