Ex-convict robbed OAP in his bed days after jail release

An ex-prisoner who robbed a partially blind 89-year-old man in his bed by holding a pair of secateurs to his throat has been jailed indefinitely.

Barry Anderson, 35, had only been out of prison for ten days when he broke into the retirement bungalow in Bletchley where the vulnerable victim was sleeping.

On Thursday, Luton Crown Court was told the victim woke to find Anderson standing over him demanding his money and pressing the pruning shears under his chin.

The terrified victim told him where his wallet was and Anderson, who was drunk, took some money and bank cards.

He then searched the property, disconnected the telephone and the personal alarm and took his panic alarm, telling him not to get help for at least half an hour.

But the victim managed to raise the alarm and told police he thought he recognised his attacker’s voice as someone who had done some gardening for him.

The defendant was arrested later the same day, on March 25 this year, and still had some of the stolen property on him.

Anderson, of no fixed address, pleaded guilty to robbery and two charges of fraud, by using the stolen bank cards, and was sentenced to an indeterminate sentence for public protection.

He was told he will only be able to apply for parole after he has served the equivalent of an eight-year sentence, but it will only be granted when the authorities are satisfied he is no longer a risk to the public.

Judge David Farrell QC told him: “Your victim was extremely vulnerable and was in enormous fear. This offence has had serious repercussions and consequences. His quality of life has deteriorated.”

A statement from the victim’s daughter-in-law said she had seen a tremendous change in him and he had become‘a prisoner in his own home’.

Miss Silpa Mistry, defending, said: “The defendant wants to express his extreme regret, remorse and apologies to the victim.

“He has very limited recollection of what he did because he was intoxicated.

“He was wandering the streets near his former partner’s home and ended up in the back garden of the bungalow. It was not preplanned and the weapon he used he found inside the property.”