‘Callous villain’ stole £20k from 90-year-old
A prolific burglar who wore an electronic tag while raiding the homes of his elderly victims has been jailed.
Ambrose Treeby, of Queen Street, Paddock Wood, preyed on a 90-year-old woman and withdrew £20,000 from her bank account.
Investigators used data from the GPS tag the 39-year-old was wearing, while on licence from prison, to prove he had stolen the cash.
Now a judge has jailed him for 40 months for two burglaries and cashing a fraudulent cheque.
He told Treeby: "You seem determined to spend your life in custody after committing even more frauds and burglaries."
Last November 2022, a woman in her 90s living near Wrotham Road, Borough Green, noticed £20,000 had been withdrawn from her account without her knowledge. She enquired with her bank and discovered a cheque had been presented at a branch in Tonbridge earlier that year, and the funds transferred to Treeby’s account.
Prosecutor Mary Jacobson said: "She had written no such cheque.
“She attended her local branch and was shown a copy of the cheque, addressed to "A Treeby" which was paid into his Santander account on August 15.
"Over the next few days, the defendant had withdrawn that money in cash, on September 24 in Tonbridge, he withdrew £5,000 and again the same on that and the next day.
"In September he took out £2,900. These were interspersed with withdrawals in Tonbridge for amounts from £50 to £300. He also paid Curry's £708," she added.
The victim could not recall meeting Treeby and the incident was reported to the police. Investigators later found he had swiftly made several large cash withdrawals once the cheque had cleared. Ms Jacobson told the court that at the time Treeby was wearing a GPS monitoring tag, which showed he had gone from his home to the victim's home at 10 am.
Treeby had also talked his way into the home of a second victim, in Maidstone, who was recovering from fractured arms and needing a zimmerframe, and tricked her into leaving the room.
There he stole £150 from the 75-year-old's handbag after claiming he was from the housing association.
The victim later revealed in a statement: "I live by myself and have mobility issues. I have problems with my hands.
"At the time of the burglary I was recovering from an injury, which included two broken fingers on one hand and a broken wrist on the other...I feel very very vulnerable.
"I have been having problems sleeping at night and I am scared to keep any cash inside my house. This is not right and I should not have to feel like this in my own house.
"I hope he is sent to prison so he is not able to target further victims."
Ms Jacobson said the offences involved Treeby targetting elderly vulnerable victims, living on their own.
Kieran Brand, defending, said Treeby has a drugs problem and each time he is released from prison he gets into debts and returns to stealing to fund his habit.
Det Con Josh Littley said: "Treeby is a callous villain who has stolen cash from elderly victims relying on the trusting nature of one of them to gain access to her home.
"He is a prolific criminal as shown by the way he continued committing offences whilst wearing a GPS tag. This allowed us to gather irrefutable evidence that led to his conviction. The vulnerable in our community will certainly be safer while he is in prison.” Treeby will serve the new sentence concurrently with his previous term and is eligible for release after completing half.