Three years jail for thief who stole disabled Cumbrian man's savings
Last updated 13:31, Saturday, 22 November 2008
A man who stole the life savings of an elderly disabled man has been sent to prison for three years.
Matthew Howes, 29, broke into 61-year-old Mitch Hope’s house in Swan Street, Longtown, knowing he was out drinking in a pub nearby.
He got away with nearly £900 in £1 and £2 pieces that Mr Hope had been saving in a gallon vodka bottle that he kept beside his bed.
Soon afterwards – after changing some of the coins for £20 notes at a local bank – he went back to the pub and offered Mr Hope £20 in what he said was a “gesture of generosity”.
Howes, who used to live in the same street as Mr Hope but has since moved to Bridge Street, Longtown, denied burglary but was found guilty after a trial at Carlisle Crown Court.
He claimed in evidence that he had not been anywhere near Mr Hope’s house that day, and said that his girlfriend’s mother Ruth Highmoor was either mistaken or lying when she told the court she had seen him both entering and leaving it as she was cycling to Longtown Junior School, where she is the caretaker.
After the verdict the jury heard that he had previously served seven years in jail for a string of burglaries in which he targeted old and vulnerable people. Judge Paul Batty QC described it as a “heartless and mean” offence and said the jury had reached the guilty verdict on “clear and compelling evidence”.
“Mr Hope thought you were a friend but you were nothing of the sort,” he told him.
The judge ordered that Mrs Highmoor should receive a £250 reward for her public spiritedness in telling the police what she had seen.
Without her, he said, Howes would never have been brought to justice.
