Keeping an ‘eye and ear’ to elderly neighbours is just being a better ‘neighbour, we regularly get ‘vistors’ selling all sorts of services and on occasion some of our elderly neighbours have been ‘done’….
A man who pretended to be a police officer in order to enter and steal from an elderly man’s home has been jailed.
Barry Anderson, 47, left his home in Hallfields Lane, Gunthorpe, just after 7.30am on 25 February, to make the short walk to his victim’s home in Bartram Gate, Paston.
He knocked on the door of the 94-year-old’s home and handed him two bags of shopping, telling him he owed him about £15 for it and asked for a glass of water.
The man went to get the drink when Anderson let himself into the home and took £150 in cash from a tin as well as the victim’s mobile phone, leaving behind the two bags of “shopping” which were found to contain tins from a local foodbank.
The victim’s daughter alerted police to what had happened, however, the following day Anderson returned at about 10.15am, stating he was a police officer and had found the man’s mobile phone.
He went on to tell the man there was counterfeit money in circulation and that he should check his cash to make sure it wasn’t fake.
Believing he was a police officer, the elderly man handed over about £170 to Anderson who said he had something outside to be able to check it, left but never returned.
The following day Anderson was identified through CCTV enquiries, and learning he has an offending history of targeting the elderly, including a conviction where he spent 10 years in prison for a violent assault on an 89-year-old, a warrant was obtained to force entry to his home that night, where he was arrested.
He appeared at Huntingdon Law Court yesterday (Thursday) where he was sentenced to four years and two months in prison after previously pleading guilty to two counts of burglary including theft of £320 in cash and a mobile phone, as well as impersonating a police officer.
Detective Constable Lily Deacon, who investigated, said: “Anderson is a predator who is a threat to the elderly. I am pleased we have been able to secure convictions and put him back in prison.”
Burglary prevention advice, including information on distraction burglary, can be found on the force’s dedicated burglary information page here.
