'Intelligent' Walsall distraction burglar jailed

Richard Murrey left school with 10 'O' Levels, two 'A' Levels and a bright future, a jury heard.

But the life of the 47-year-old was later blighted by a heroin addiction, Wolverhampton Crown Court was told.

On September 30 last year Murrey went to the Wolverhampton home of the victim which he had been employed to paint in the past.

While she was distracted by another man the defendant slipped into the address and stole the cash which had been saved to settle bills and pay for a holiday she was due to take three days later, explained Mr David Swinnerton, prosecuting.

Father of one Murrey denied being responsible, claiming that the woman was 'forgetful and unreliable' but this claim was dismissed by the jury who found him guilty of burglary after a trial.

The victim told police: "This has absolutely devastated me. I have lived here for 57 years and nothing like it has ever happened before."

Mr Nicholas Smith, defending, explained that Murrey had been 'on and off ' drugs for years and continued: "He once had a window cleaning round with 200 customers and on other occasions has been promoted to the level of assistant manager in shops and fast food restaurants.This was during periods of abstinence but he has then fallen back into drug addiction."

The defendant, from Barleyfield Row, Caldmore, Walsall, was jailed by Judge Nicholas Webb who told him: "You had done outside painting work on the home of the 84-year-old and deliberately targeted her because of her age.

"You are an intelligent man whose life has been blighted by your addiction to hard drugs. You are now trying to overcome this with mixed results. There is no evidence that the offence was committed while under the influence of drugs although it might have been to get funds to buy drugs."