Drug user burgled home of pensioner in care
AN ‘habitual drug user’ burgled an 86-year-old man’s house just weeks after he had moved into residential care, a court heard.
John David Jolley, from Rochdale, smashed a kitchen window to break into the property and stole a £500 television and a watch.
The father-of-two was later identified by police by blood left at the scene after he cut himself.
Jolley, 30, pleaded guilty to burglary and was jailed for eight months.
Stephen Parker, prosecuting, told the court how the offence took place between October 28 and 29 this year.
He said: “For reasons of ill health [the victim] had not been residing at the property and had been moved to residential care the month before the incident.
“All his personal possessions and property were still at the address a window above the kitchen door to gain entry to the house on New Line in Bacup.
Mr Parker said once inside he ‘searched all the rooms’ and stole the flat screen television and a watch which was later sold.
The granddaughter ‘hasn’t told her grandfather about the burglary for fear of upsetting him and the delicate nature of his health’, the court heard.
Jolley, who has 22 convictions for 72 offences, including 25 theft-related incidents, was later arrested and gave no comment during his interview.
Elizabeth Evans, defending, told the court that Jolley ‘relapsed significantly into serious drug misuse’ after his father and grandfather died last year.
She said: “He is genuinely remorseful. He was motivated by sleeping rough. He is a habitual drug user and was motivated by food.
“He does wish to apologise to the victim in this case.
“He wasn’t aware of the vulnerability of the victim. He has a deeply unattractive record.”
Miss Evans said Jolley, of Illminister Flats, Rochdale, has long-standing mental health problems and ‘appears as someone who is defeated’.
Recorder Simon Medland QC said Jolley had a ‘perfectly dreadful record’ and that only a sentence of immediate imprisonment could be justified.
Sentencing, he said: “You committed a thoroughly mean offence at the private home address of an 86-year-old man who was so vulnerable and ill that he couldn’t live there and was in care.”