Tommy Smith (left) and Jake Lee targeted the 92-year-old woman in her Gorseinon home
TWO young men who targeted a vulnerable widow in her 90s and stole cash from her after pretending to do gardening work have been jailed.
Swansea Crown Court heard the family of the victim are so concerned about the impact the incident has had on her, they want her to give up her home of six decades and move in with them.
A judge said told Tommy Lee Curtis Smith and Jake Lee it was hard to think of a more despicable case of burglary.
James Hartson, prosecuting, said in October last year Smith and Lee went to the woman's house in Gorseinon and told her they had been sent by her regular gardener to carry-out some work.
They agreed a price of £100 to trim trees in her garden, and Smith followed her into her house to watch where she kept her money — Lee then kept the woman talking in the garden while Smith slipped back into the property and helped himself to more cash.
The pair left the property with a total of £180 — without doing the tree-trimming — and it wasn't until several hours later when the victim's real gardener arrived that the scam was discovered.
Smith, aged 20, of Tinkers Corner travellers' site, Coddington, Herefordshire, and 19-year-old Lee, of Heol Daniel, Llanelli, had both previously pleaded guilty to burglary when they appeared for sentencing.
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The court heard the burglary had exasperated the victim's existing health problems, and her family now wanted her to leave her house and live with them.
The court heard Smith has previous convictions for actual bodily harm and grievous bodily harm when he was 14, a reprimand for arson when he was 12, and a warning for burglary when he was 11, while Lee is of previously clean character.
Rhys Thomas, for Smith, said his client "hadn't fully understood the gravity" of what he was doing at the time, and by his own admission "needs to grow up".
Paul Hobson, for Lee, said his client had never been in trouble with then law before, and his family felt "revulsion" at what he had done.
Judge Paul Thomas QC told the pair society would be outraged if he imposed any other sentence than immediate custody.
He told them: "It is hard to think of a much more despicable case of burglary than this one.
"You were looking for someone to con and commit a distraction burglary against, and that would almost certainly have been an elderly person.
"It would have been entirely obvious to you when you saw her, that she was a vulnerable person — and it may well be that what you did will lead to the loss of her independence."
Smith — who the judge said had been the "prime mover" in the burglary — was sentenced to two years in a young offenders institution, and Lee to 18 months in a young offenders institution.
Read more at http://www.southwales-eveningpost.co.uk/92-year-old-widow-conned-by-pair-in-despicable-distraction-burglary/story-30161396-detail/story.html#eQWxuqr46yd4o5Bb.99
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