Burglar shoved his aunt aside and stole her cash
HE RIFLED HER PURSE AFTER SHE GREW TIRED OF HIS SCROUNGING
A BURGLAR who hit “rock bottom” forced his way into his aunt’s Nottingham home, pushed her aside and took £200 from her purse.
Nottingham Crown Court heard how Scott Newton’s victim bravely attempted to stop him from leaving with her cash, which she had withdrawn to buy Christmas presents.
But the 45-year-old drug and booze user was too strong for his 68-year-old relative and fled with the cash. In a victim impact statement, the woman, who has a heart condition, said she is afraid he will just keep coming back for more.
Jailing Newton, of Bobbers Mill, for 22 months, Recorder Stuart Sprawson said: “Your aunt was 68 at the time you burgled her house and I do not know if you were aware or not that she was in difficult health.
“Previously to that she had been generous and supportive of you, lending you small amounts of money.
“However, eventually she decided to turn off the tap of support as your demands were becoming too much and too frequent and she even went to the extent of putting a note up at her address, addressed to you, to say you were no longer welcome.
“On that day she answered a knock on the door and must have been surprised to find you standing there.
“Your first comment to her was to ask her for £2 and she refused and stood her ground.
“But that did not stop you and you placed your foot in the door, forced your way in and pushed her to one side and out of the way. The efforts she made to stop you understandably failed.”
Mia Mcnevin, prosecuting, said the burglary happened at the pensioner’s address, in New Basford at about 7.15pm on December 18 last year.
She said: “She was watching TV and there was a knock on the door.
“She thought it was going to be her daughter and so answered it and saw her nephew, this defendant.
“He said ‘give me £2’ and she refused and tried to shut the door but he put his foot there stopping her and forced his way, pushed her out of the way, walked through her living room and into her kitchen.
“He reached into her purse and helped himself to the money that was in there – some £200 – which she had earlier withdrawn to pay for items and Christmas presents. She tried to grab it off him and prevent him escaping but he was too strong.”
Miss Mcniven said a neighbour heard the commotion and saw the defendant leaving but was also unable to stop him and saw him running from the address. He was arrested and at first admitted what he did, telling police he was “off his face” on drugs.
But he later gave a “no comment” interview before finally pleading guilty to burglary. Newton, of Lambert Street, has 25 previous convictions for 50 offences on his record.
Lauren Manuel, mitigating, said her client had stayed out of trouble between 2009 and 2018 which coincided with him getting off alcohol and receiving support from the probation service.
But in 2018 his work pressures and the death of his father led him to relapse and to also start taking class A drugs.
She said: “He was a self-employed builder with three work vans and nine staff and that was going extremely successfully. But the wheels fell off and he resorted back to alcohol. He tells me he is not proud of himself for what he did and now finds himself at rock bottom.”
The judge also handed the defendant a five-year restraining order not to contact his aunt or go within 50 yards of her address.