PICTURED: The father and son who raided 94-year-old woman’s home after conning their way in
A career criminal who took his teenage son with him to burgle the home of a 94-year-old woman was starting a three-year six-month jail sentence today.
Gerry Flynn - who had previous convictions involving 68 separate offences - posed as an environment officer with a high-vis jacket and clipboard to dupe the victim, Wolverhampton Crown Court heard.
He and his 19-year-old son Patrick were ‘looking for a house where people were vulnerable and would allow them to execute a distraction burglary,’ said Mr Neil Ahuja, prosecuting.
The woman had been burgled five times previously and no longer admitted cold callers to her home unless they were with people she knew.
But the 41-year-old father of seven would not stop ringing the door bell to her Wolverhampton home, forcing the frail woman to struggle on her walking frame to see who was there.
She talked to him through the window but was lured into opening the front door when he claimed not to be able to hear her.
He said the water was being checked and added: ‘Didn’t you get the letter?’
There was no letter but the ruse worked.
Mr Ahuja continued: “He said he needed to turn the mains tap off while establishing during the conversation that she was alone.
“She had very little movement and so he turned it off and told her to stay in the kitchen to see if the pipes vibrated. He then opened the front door for others to enter.”
The teenager ran upstairs to ransack rooms, emptying drawers and cupboards in a frantic hunt for cash which proved to be fruitless because the woman had been burgled so often she had stopped keeping cash in the house.
When she finally managed to get from the kitchen to the front door she saw three people walking to a white Vauxhall Insignia in which they drove away, waving to her as they left on January 24.
Fortunately their departure was captured by a CCTV camera outside the address and led to the arrest of Flynn and his son from a house where the car was parked outside five days later.
A third person believed to have been involved has not been positively identified.
Miss Sophie Murray, defending Gerry Flynn, who was gripped by a drug addiction, said: “He is deeply ashamed of taking his son into the criminal world.”
Mr Harvinder Lally, for Patrick Flynn, argued: “He behaved out of misplaced loyalty after being dragged along by his father who he is clearly influenced by.”
The defendants both from Old Fallings Crescent in Low Hill, Wolverhampton, admitted burglary.
The son, who had nine previous convictions, was given two years detention, suspended for two years, with 150 hours unpaid work.
The 94-year-old victim explained the crime had devastated her confidence and independence.
She added: “Trust is not given freely here now. I assume anyone who calls is up to no good. This was the sixth time I have been burgled.
“During the Second World War I worked in factories for the war effort, producing oxygen tanks for pilots and working on planes.
"I worked hard and feel that after all I have given, my reward is to be burgled when I’m vulnerable.”
Judge Dean Kershaw branded the crime as ‘despicable’ and told the defendants: “Both of you acting together took advantage of an extremely vulnerable woman who was entitled to spend the last days of her life not petrified and worried about people coming to steal from her.
“After what she did during the war to allow us to live as we do today she deserved a peaceful existence in life but you have ruined that.”
The judge continued: “She does not trust people because she feels duped and stupid. She should not feel that way but I understand why she does.
“She struggles with her mobility but you took no notice of that and put your own selfish needs way above everything else.
"It would not have taken a moment for you to realise how vulnerable she was when she appeared at the window but you persisted.
“The fact that nothing was stolen is not the point. It is the fact that people have been through drawers and wardrobes, handling the personal possessions of the occupant that causes the problems. That lady deserved to spend her life without that kind of anguish."
