Man in hospital four weeks after gun drama
THIEF GETS 28 MONTHS FOR RANSACKING BEDROOM OF ELDERLY PAIR
A MAN seriously injured when gun drama hit a Tyneside street remains in hospital almost four weeks on.
The 50-year-old suffered what police have described as “lifechanging, but non-lifethreatening injuries” during the incident, which happened on Benfield Road, in Walkergate, Newcastle.
Armed police were seen descending on the street shortly before 8.30pm on Wednesday, January 24.
Northumbria Police says the man fired a weapon and injured himself while officers were at the scene. He was taken to Newcastle’s Royal Victoria Infirmary, where he remains.
No-one else was injured and officers say they are not looking for anyone else in connection with the incident.
The police watchdog, the Independent Office for Police Conduct, is now investigating.
Liam Donnelly, from Jesmond, was heading home from the Odeon cinema in Silverlink when he saw police cars hurrying down Coast Road on their way to Benfield Road.
He described how armed officers were standing outside a police vehicle on the corner of Queens Crescent, before five police cars accelerated past him and headed into Benfield Road, stopping close to Frank’s Flooring Store and the Barr soft drinks warehouse. Liam said: “They had someone on the floor with about five or six police near the wall. Then two ambulances drove past us heading back down the Coast Road.”
Elizabeth Leonard’s home was one of the properties inside the police cordon.
The following day police 4x4 vehicles could be seen surrounding a silver estate car, which was clearly damaged, with a visible break to its rear window. And forensic officers were still working at the scene.
Pedestrians, including children making their way to Benfield School, were allowed to walk down one pavement on the taped-off Benfield Road. Court Reporter A DESPICABLE grandson stole the life savings of his elderly grandparents – leaving them with no money for their funerals and no nest egg to pass on to their family.
Steven Dodd left his grandad and grandma devastated after simply walking into their home undetected, ransacking their bedroom and stealing £27,000 from bedside drawers.
A court heard the cruel crook then went on a spending spree with his friend but £20,000 of the money has never been traced and Dodd has given various accounts about what happened to it.
His grandparents, both in their 80s, who kept their savings in brown envelopes in their bedroom, were unable to claim on their insurance and have been left fretting on paying for their funerals.
Now Dodd, 33, a drug addict who used to pester the pensioners for money, has been jailed for 28 months at Newcastle Crown Court for theft.
Mr Recorder Wheeler told him: “Throughout their life it appears they have been putting money away when they could do.
“The purpose was to provide a nest egg and some degree of security so when the inevitable happens there would be some money available for their funerals without other members of the family having to worry about it, and for money to be passed on by way of inheritance, it being a matter of some comfort that they could leave something that could make other people’s lives better.
“What you took was of substantially high value to your grandparents – it was everything they had.
“It has caused them a high level of inconvenience and they are no longer sure what will happen when their funerals have to be paid for. It will cause them an immense amount of stress, having to worry about that.
“You targeted them because of their vulnerability.”
The court heard Dodd’s grandad, 85, left his home in Hexham, Northumberland, on the morning of December 7 last year, leaving his 81-year-old wife at home.
At about 3pm, the grandma saw the back of Dodd walking down her path, away from her home, and she thought it peculiar he had not been to see her.
When her husband returned at tea time with his son, they went upstairs and found the bedroom had been “ransacked” and the £27,000 was gone.
Dodd was stopped by police at Newcastle Central Station later that evening with his pal and they had been on a “shopping spree”, the court heard.
Dodd had £4,173 in cash on him and the friend had £1,071 and various items of clothing, shoes and jewellery to the value of £1,200.
Dodd’s grandad said in a victim statement: “At this time I’m devastated that my life savings have been stolen. “My insurance will not cover the loss of this money.”
Dodd, of no fixed address, admitted theft and possessing amphetamine and was locked up for 28 months.
Peter Walsh, mitigating, said: “He concedes there was a level of harm in that the money was to pay for their funeral expenses. “He descended into drug use. “There had been an absence of criminal offending for seven years.
“He says his co-defendant had the rest of the money left with him.” Steven Dodd