east Bowling pensioner's purse was stolen in phone ruse by Buttershaw woman (From Bradford Telegraph and Argus)
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east Bowling pensioner's purse was stolen in phone ruse by Buttershaw woman
11:00am Saturday 16th February 2013 in News
A woman who stole a pensioner’s purse after pretending she wanted to use her phone has been sentenced to a 12-month community order with supervision and a drug rehabilitation requirement.
Diane Hanson, 37, of Strensall Green, Buttershaw, Bradford, was “out of it” because she was battling a long standing drug addiction, her barrister, Jayne Beckett, said.
Hanson pleaded guilty to stealing the purse from an 83-year-old woman who lives in accommodation for the elderly in East Bowling, Bradford.
Bradford Crown Court was told yesterday that she told her victim she wanted to use her phone after calling round on January 5.
She then took the purse, containing an unknown amount of money, from under a cushion. She threw it under a bush after taking out the cash.
Mrs Beckett said Hanson knew her victim and was devastated by what she had done.
The Recorder of Bradford, Judge Roger Thomas QC, labelled it “a mean, nasty and unpleasant” offence.
