Thief took handbag from disabled woman

A SNEAKY thief snatched a handbag from a disabled woman’s mobility scooter while she was momentarily distracted.

Jason McElderry, in the company of his pal Daniel Tams, targeted the 59-year-old victim, who suffered from severe arthritis and a compressed vertebrae, outside Heron Foods in Newcastle.

The callous 48-year-old grabbed her handbag, which contained all her sentimental and valuable belongings, from the handle of her mobility scooter while she tended to her shopping, Newcastle Crown court heard.

Both men then made off on foot before being identified by police from CCTV footage.

Now, McElderry, 48, of The Sycamores, Cruddas Park, Newcastle, has been given a 12-month prison sentence, suspended for 18 months, after he pleaded guilty to one count of theft.

Tams, 48, of The Larches, Cruddas Park, has been jailed for 17 months after admitting handling stolen goods and breaching a suspended sentence.

The court heard that Tams was only a few days into a suspended sentence at the time of the offence and had previous convictions for stealing from vulnerable women in their 80s.

Jamie Adams, defending Tams, said he was being sentenced for handling the stolen goods and not for the primary offence in the case of theft.

He said: “He is sorry for what occurred here.”

The court also heard that the theft was “opportunistic” and neither men had gone out with in the intention of stealing.

McElderry was sentenced at an earlier hearing.